Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s children’s services not providing sufficient support to Ms X’s family. There is not a good reason for the delay in bringing the complaint to the Ombudsman. Ms X should make any complaint about more recent events to the Council and then us, if necessary.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s children’s social workers and mediator, who she says have not helped her family. She says her child stopped attending school and the family have experienced significant distress. She is not sure what she wants the Council to do to put things right.

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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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council provided early help support to Ms X’s family in 2021. Ms X complained to the Council at the end of 2021 as it had stopped working with her family. The Council indicates this was due to her child being unavailable to work with it. The Council issued Ms X a complaint response in December 2021.
7. Ms X then wrote to the Council to complain again in 2023. The Council wrote to her explaining it could not now revisit the complaint about events from 2021. It said it was not sure if she wanted to complain about something more recent too. She then brought her complaint to the Ombudsman.
8. It is now also too late for us to consider a complaint about events of 2021. Ms X could have escalated her complaint sooner and brought the matter to the Ombudsman within 12 months. There is not a good reason for the delay.
9. Ms X has not told us about any further events since 2021 that she wishes to complain about. If there are more recent matters, she should first make this clear to the Council to provide it an opportunity to investigate and respond to her complaint. Then, if she remains dissatisfied, it is open to her to bring those matters to us within 12 months of becoming aware of them.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason for the delay in bringing it to the Ombudsman.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman