Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about savings for a looked after child. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council decided not to consider the complaint to justify us investigating.

The complaint

1. Ms X was in the Council’s care until she reached 18. Ms X complained that a commissioned children’s home spent monies that had been saved for her without her knowledge or consent.
2. Ms X said this caused her distress and financial disadvantage.
3. Ms X wants the Council to reimburse her for the missing monies, pay interest, and provide her with other savings the commissioned children’s home should have pledged for her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Ms X was placed by the Council in a commissioned children’s home in 2017, with the placement ending two years later. Ms X says that her savings were then spent on various activities by the children’s home without her knowledge or consent.
10. Ms X raised this with the Council in 2022 but did not formally complain until this year.
11. The Council decided it would not consider Ms X’s complaint, saying it was late and it would not exercise its discretion to consider it.
12. I have reviewed how the Council made its decision. It considered the time that had elapsed and how this would impact on effective investigation, the legislation and the statutory guidance.
13. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes a Council followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether Ms X disagrees with the decision the Council made.
14. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made its decision not to consider her complaint. Also, given that Ms X was aware of the issue in 2022, she could have complained to us sooner.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify us investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman