Liverpool City Council (19 018 994)

Category : Children's care services > Other

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 03 Jul 2020

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about lack of support from the Council’s social services team when she was a child. This is because the complaint is late and there is no reason Ms X could not have complained earlier.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains the Council’s social services team failed to support her when she was a child. Ms X says the Council failed to identify she was being abused.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
  2. 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

  1. I considered Ms X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information she provided. I also gave Ms X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on her complaint.

Back to top

What I found

  1. Ms X, who is now 30 years old, complained to the Council in July 2018 about a lack of support when she was a child. Ms X complained after she received a response from the Council to a Subject Access Request. The Council said it would not investigate Ms X’s complaint because of the time that had elapsed. It suggested Ms X take legal advice – which she did.
  2. The Ombudsman normally expects people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are good reasons to do so. I do not consider that to be the case here. I see no reason why Ms X could not have complained much earlier, especially as she has been advised by a solicitor. Therefore the exception at paragraph 3 applies to her complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because the complaint is late and there is no reason Ms X could not have complained earlier.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings