Lincolnshire County Council (21 012 546)

Category : Children's care services > Other

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 06 Jan 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council safeguarded the complainants daughter. This is because most of the complaint is made late, and the complainant does not have the consent to complain on behalf of her daughter about recent events.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I will call Miss X, complains that the Council failed to properly safeguard her daughter when she was a child and is failing to do so again now, she is an adult.

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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)
  3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the actions of the Council’s children’s services when her daughter was a child. This is because these events happened too long ago, and I see no reason why she could not have complained sooner.
  2. I cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council have failed to safeguard her daughter as an adult. This is because there is no evidence that Miss X’s daughter lacks capacity, and Miss X does not have consent to act on her daughters behalf.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is made late and because she does not have consent to act on her daughters behalf.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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