Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the remedy offered to her following a children’s statutory complaints investigation in 2020 and the Council’s recent decision that it will not re-open her complaint to re-consider the matter. A complaint about the Council’s actions in 2020 is late and there is not enough evidence of fault in its recent decision.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has refused to re-consider the suitability of a remedy offered following a children’s statutory complaints investigation in 2020. She says the Council’s actions have caused long term harm and are having an enduring impact on her life. She wants the Council to review the adequacy of the remedy provided and for us to direct the Council to provide a more appropriate remedy to reflect the severity of her ongoing injustice.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the suitability of the remedy offered in 2020 as it is late. If Ms X was dissatisfied with the remedy offered, she could have escalated her complaint at the time or approached us sooner. There is no good reason to investigate now.
7. We will also not investigate the Council’s decision that because of the length of time passed, it will not re-open her complaint. The decision appears in line with its complaints procedure. There is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because any complaint about the remedy offered in 2020 is late and there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s recent decision to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman