Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s children services team not supporting her nine years ago and her mother’s employment contract terms. There are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council failed to support her when she was 17 and that it failed to sort her immigration visa.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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)
3. We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about a personnel issue. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 4, as amended)
4. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Mrs X provided with her complaint and the Council’s reply to her which it provided. I considered Mrs X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

6. Mrs X says that when she was 14 her mother moved with her to England to take an employment position with the Council. Mrs X says aged 17, and then a parent, she felt the Council failed to support her, her child and family. She says she contacted the Council in 2016 and 2017 for support.
7. Mrs X says once her mother’s employment contract ended in 2018 their visa’s also expired. She had to sort out her visa. She says the Council failed to support her in doing so. Mrs X is now 26.
8. Mrs X complained to the Council in the Autumn of 2020. The Council said the issues were too old and it could not use the complaints’ procedure to investigate employment contracts.

Analysis

9. We will not investigate events known to Mrs X for more than 12 months unless there are good reasons to do so. Here there are not because:
1. The allegation of lack of support to her as a mother aged 17, is now nine years old. I am not confident we could reach a sound, fair, and meaningful decision. The time passed will adversely affect the evidence reliability and the ability to achieve a meaningful remedy.
2. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s mother’s employment contract for the reason set out in paragraph three and Mrs X has not provided her mother’s consent.
3. Mrs X says the Council moved her to the UK. We are unlikely to agree this is the case given the Council could not have decided nor forced this. It was Mrs X’s mother’s choice to move.
4. Mrs X has not provided sufficient reasons why she has not complained to us before now.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman