Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the ending of the Council’s support for the complainant’s family in 2015. This is because the complaint is made late and there are no good reasons to exercise the Ombudsman’s discretion to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr E, says that:
• The Council’s support for his family was inappropriately ended in 2015;
• The Council holds inaccurate records relating to the circumstances of the closure of their file; and
• The Council now refuses to investigate the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by Mr E and by the Council. I have also sent Mr E an initial view for his comments.

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What I found

6. Mr E’s family was receiving support from the Council in 2015. At this time, a decision was taken to remove the support and the case was closed. Mr E says that the decision was taken on the basis on inaccurate information, and exposed his daughter to potential harm.
7. Mr E has complained to the Council about the decision, but the Council has refused to investigate the complaint, as it is made late.
8. Mr E has now brought his complaint to the Ombudsman, but we will not investigate it. This is because the complaint is made late, more than 12 months after Mr E knew about the decision. I do not consider it fault for the Council also to refused to investigate the issue.
9. I have considered whether I should exercise the Ombudsman’s discretion to set aside the time bar, but there are no good reasons for me to do so. Mr E says that the complaint should not be considered late as he only found out about some of the information on his file following a more recent Subject Access Request. However, he knew about the decision in 2015 and could have complained about it at the time if he disagreed with it.
10. Additionally, although Mr E’s complaint about the accuracy of the information on the file may not be late, it is a matter for the Information Commissioner’s Office to consider, if the Council’s action does not resolve it.

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Final decision

11. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is made late and there are no good reasons to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman