Summary: The Ombudsman should not investigate Mr X’s complaint about children services not disclosing documents to him which he says the Court ordered. The events have been known to Mr X for more than 12 months and there are no compelling reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, says the Council failed to comply with a Court order.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr X provided with his complaint. I considered Mr X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

5. Mr X says a Court ordered the Council, in May 2017, to disclose documents to him. These relate to Court proceedings about his children’s care. Mr X says the Council failed to comply with this order. He says the Council breached the Human Rights Act in the way it acted towards him.
6. We cannot investigate a complaint about events known to Mr X for more than 12 months without compelling reasons. Here there are not because:
1. We cannot investigate the Court’s decisions.
2. Mr X says the Court made a ‘directions’ order. They are usually given during Court proceedings. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have raised the Council’s non-compliance during those court proceedings.
3. Mr X has provided no reasons why it has taken him two years to complain to us.
4. If Mr X believes the Council has information which he is entitled to see, he can make a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Acts. If the Council fails to comply, the Information Commissioner’s Office is the appropriate body to decide if the Council should provide the documents Mr X wants.

Back to top

Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because there are no compelling reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman