Brighton & Hove City Council (24 008 097)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Oct 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s actions concerning the transition of Mr X and Ms Y’s child. There is no good reason to exercise the discretion available for us to do so.
The complaint
- Mr X and Ms Y complain of fault in the Council’s actions when their child wished to transition to a different gender.
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 the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The matters complained of happened in late 2022 and early 2023 and they approached us in August 2024. The couple were aware of the matters they complain of by February 2023 at the latest. The complaint is thus late.
- We may investigate a late complaint if there is a good reason why the person making the complaint has not done so sooner. In this case, the Council responded promptly to Mr X and Ms Y’s complaint at each of two stages. The couple were also legally advised from the time of the earliest matter complained of. I would expect their legal representative to have been aware of the time limits on our legal powers. It was Mr X and Ms Y’s choice to also issue a pre-action protocol to the Council and for their representative to pursue legal correspondence. They could instead have complained promptly to the Council and then to us much sooner.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X and Ms Y’s complaint because it is late and there is no good reason to exercise the discretion available to us to do so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman