Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council refused to investigate his concerns about its service to him when he was a Looked After Child. The complaint relates to events which occurred over 12 months ago, and it is unlikely we would find fault with the Council’s decision not to investigate it. For the remainder, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council refused to investigate his complaint about the service provided to him when he was a Looked After Child two decades ago.
2. Mr X says this caused distress.
3. Mr X wants the Council to accept responsibility for its faults.
4. Mr X also complains the Council did not assist him during a housing crisis he was experiencing.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)
7. 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

8. I considered information provided by Mr X.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. I have read the information Mr X supplied to us regarding his childhood and understand that this will have been a challenging and difficult experience for him to complain to us about.
11. The more time passes between the events and a complaint, the more unlikely it is we can investigate them effectively, gather reliable evidence and reach a sound decision. In older cases, we also may not be able to achieve a meaningful remedy because too many circumstances have changed. We are often unable to show why events occurred or understand who was responsible.
12. I have considered whether there are good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider Mr X's complaint. The law, explained in paragraph six, says we should not investigate late complaints. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late, and I am not persuaded there is a basis to disapply the law to consider it now.
13. The children’s statutory complaint procedure allows the Council to decline to take a complaint about matters which have occurred more than 12 months before a complaint was raised with it. It can do so, provided it explains why it has decided this, and does so on a case-by-case basis. The Council emailed Mr X and explained its reasons in his case, so it is unlikely we would find fault if we were to investigate its decision. Therefore, we will not investigate the Council’s decision here.
14. Mr X also complained the Council did not support him during a housing crisis he was experiencing. The Council told Mr X he needed to seek support from the council in the area where he ordinarily resides. We will also not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant us investigating.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because some of the complaint is late. For the remainder, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman