Summary: The Council failed to properly consider whether to take Mrs X’s late complaint through the children’s statutory complaints procedure in line with the relevant law and guidance. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X, pay them a symbolic amount to recognise the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused and carry out a review of its decision.

The complaint

1. Mrs X made a complaint about the Council’s failure to safeguard her as a child between 2003 and 2017.
2. Mrs X said the Council failed to properly consider whether to take Mrs X’s late complaint through the children’s statutory complaints procedure in line with the relevant law and guidance which she said caused her distress, frustration and uncertainty.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)
5. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Relevant law and guidance

8. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
9. The statutory guidance says council do not need to consider complaints made more than one year after the grounds to make the representation arose. In these cases, the council should write to advise the complainant that their complaint cannot be considered and explain the reasons it adopted this position. However, decisions need to be made on a case-by-case basis and there should generally be a presumption in favour of accepting the complaint unless there is a good reason against it.
10. The statutory guidance says the time limit can be extended at the Council’s discretion if it is still possible to consider the representations effectively and efficiently. Councils may also wish to consider such complaints if it would be unreasonable to expect the complainant to have made the complaint earlier. For example, where the child was not able to make the complaint or did not feel confident in bringing it forward in the year time limit.
11. Possible grounds for accepting a complaint made after one year are:
• Genuine issues of vulnerability;
• The Council believes there is still benefit to the complainant in proceeding;
• There is likely to be sufficient access to information or individuals involved at the time, to enable an effective and fair investigation to be carried out; and
• Action should be taken in light of human rights-based legislation.

Duty to provide accommodation

12. Councils have a duty to provide accommodation for any child in need in their area who appears to them to need accommodation because:

• There is no-one who has parental responsibility for the child;
• The child is lost or abandoned; or
• The person who has been caring for the child is prevented, whether permanently or temporarily and for whatever reason, from providing suitable accommodation or care.

13. The council may not provide accommodation in these circumstances if the person who has parental responsibility objects. It can either provide the accommodation or arrange for accommodation to be provided. A child accommodated in this way is a ‘looked after child’ (LAC). (Children Act 1989, section 20)

What happened

14. Mrs X had children’s service involvement between 2003-2017. When Mrs X was a teenager, she became a looked after child.
15. In June 2025, Mrs X raised a formal complaint to the Council. Mrs X said she was subject to continuous harm and neglect during her childhood and despite repeated children’s service involvement, the Council failed to take appropriate action to safeguard her until she was a teenager. Mrs X said this had a profound impact on her wellbeing and development. She said this has caused her severe mental health conditions. Mrs X wanted the Council to investigate her complaint.
16. The Council responded the following day saying it could not accept the complaint under the statutory complaints procedure. This was because it related to historic events over a year ago. The Council said the head of service was happy to have a meeting with her to discuss her concerns. This took place in June 2025.
17. In August 2025 the Council said it did not need to accept the complaint as it would be impossible to come to any conclusions when this happened eight or more years ago.
18. Mrs X remained dissatisfied with the matter and complained to us.

My findings

19. The Council should have applied the statutory guidance set out in paragraphs 9-11 when deciding whether to investigate Mrs X’s complaint. There is no evidence the Council has considered whether Mrs X had genuine issues of vulnerability. For example, her age when the events occurred and her resulting mental health conditions. There is also no evidence the Council has considered whether there would be benefit to Mrs X in proceeding with the complaint.
20. Whilst the Council said too much time has passed to investigate the complaint, it has not considered what evidence may be still available such as the records from when Mrs X was a looked after child. The Council has failed to properly consider whether it should exercise discretion to investigate Mrs X’s late complaint in line with the statutory guidance which was fault. This caused Mrs X distress, frustration and uncertainty.

Back to top

Action

21. Within one month of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Apologise to Mrs X and pay her £100 for the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by the Council’s failure to properly consider her complaint.
2. Carry out a review of its decision to not investigate Mrs X’s complaint in line with statutory guidance. It should consider the complaint and Mrs X’s circumstances against each bullet point in paragraph 11.
3. Share the learning from this decision with the relevant officers to ensure that when the Council decides to not accept a complaint through the statutory complaints process, there are clear records of decision-making in line with the relevant law and guidance.
22. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
23. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

24. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman