Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s support to Miss X during a time when she was a Looked After Child, including a lack of support when she turned 18 years of age. This is because a complaint about the Council’s actions is now late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council failed to properly support her shortly after the time when she had been a Looked After Child (LAC). She said it wrongly placed her under a residence order, rather than continuing to keep her as an LAC. She said it also failed to support her as a care leaver when she turned 18 years old.
2. Miss X wants the Council to provide compensation and provide her with housing.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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

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

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My assessment

7. Miss X said the Council did not provide her with adequate support during a period when she was an LAC between 2007 and 2010. Miss X also said the Council ought to have provided her with more support, as a care leaver, when she turned 18 years of age in 2012.
8. Miss X complained to the Council in October 2024, and it provided her with a response in January 2025, where it set out reasons why it considered she was not eligible for the support she believed she was due.
9. Miss X complained to us in September 2026. She said the Council was at fault because it did not recognise she was a qualified care leaver under the Children Act 1989.
10. The substantive matters Miss X is unhappy about occurred over 15 years ago. The law I have mentioned in paragraph four restricts our powers to only consider matters that have occurred more than 12 months ago where there are good reasons why a complaint could not have been made sooner.
11. I have considered whether there are good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider Miss X's complaint. It is likely she would have been aware of the Council’s fault much closer to the time when the events were happening and so she could have approached us sooner than she did.
12. Therefore, I will not exercise discretion to consider Miss X’s complaint. In any case, even if Miss X’s complaint was made in time, we would not investigate. Miss X wants the Council to provide her with compensation and access to a permanent home. We could not achieve either of these outcomes for her.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because her complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman