London Borough of Newham (23 017 623)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Feb 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to temporarily cease financial support Mrs X was receiving on behalf of her children. This is because the complaint concerns events that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to have brought this matter to us at the time.
The complaint
- Mrs X complained the Council stopped financial assistance her children were entitled to without warning or explanation.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In February 2022 the Council temporarily stopped providing Mrs X with financial assistance meant for her children. Mrs X complained to the Council in March 2022, stating that the Council’s actions had caused distress and upset to her and her family.
- The Council explained that it required a copy of the children’s birth certificates for the payments to resume. Several weeks later, the Council reinstated the financial support to Mrs X after the requested documents were supplied.
- Mrs X has brought the complaint to the Ombudsman as she remains unhappy with the Council’s actions. The Ombudsman will not usually exercise discretion to investigate events that took place more than 12 months before the complainant became aware of them. In this case, I can see no good reason the complaint was not brought to us at the time and so exercising discretion to investigate would not be a good use of resources.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the complaint concerns events that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to have brought this matter to us at the time.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman