Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to investigate Mr X’s concerns about how it supported him as a Looked after Child. The complaint relates to matters which occurred over 12 months ago, and it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision, not to consider it. Nor will we investigate Mr X’s complaint, because it is late and there are no good reasons why it could not have been made to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council did not properly support him and failed in its duty to him, as a Looked after Child (LAC). Mr X said he was unnecessarily detained in an Immigration Centre consequently and the Council’s actions has caused him trauma.
2. Mr X wants an investigation, and to have access to his records.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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))
4. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. 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)
6. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. I have read the correspondence Mr X sent to us and understand this will have been a challenging and difficult experience for him to complain to us.
9. Mr X complained to the Council about its actions when he was a LAC between 2004 and 2018. The Council wrote back to Mr X and said it considered his representations at a historical complaint group.
10. The Council declined to take Mr X’s complaint. It said it did not believe it could carry out a fair and reliable investigation, because the matters Mr X complained about related to its actions from before 2017. It said its practices and recording, from before 2017, was different from current practice. It also said it was unlikely it would be able to locate relevant staff to be available for the investigation.
11. 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 its reasons why it has decided this, and does so on a case-by-case basis. The Council wrote to Mr X, explained its reasons in his case and therefore it is unlikely we would find fault if we were to investigate its decision, to refuse a complaint under the children’s statutory complaint procedure.
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 five, says we should not investigate late complaints, and I have not seen any evidence of good reasons why a complaint about these matters, could not have been made to us sooner.  
13. Mr X wants access to his records, and the Council signposted him to its information rights team to enable him to request these records. Where a person such as Mr X is seeking to access their personal information, we usually refer them to the Information Commissioner, if they are unhappy with the Council’s response and so I will not consider a complaint about this matter.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision to decline his complaint. And we will not consider it either because it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman