Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about child protection. The complaint is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council mismanaged child protection matters, failed to correct inaccurate information, did not provide her with information she requested, and poorly managed her complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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 provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So, where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
5. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaints about child protection matters prior to 2023. We have already considered those matters and issued a decision.
9. Mrs X complains the Council delayed contacting with Y’s father in 2023 when he continued to contact Y. The Council say they were waiting for guidance from the Police.
10. We normally expect people to complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of a problem. Mrs X did not complain to us until 2025. We consider each complaint on its merits, but we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are good reasons. I have considered whether there are such reasons here, but I have seen none.
11. Mrs X also complains the Council refused to correct inaccurate information in safeguarding records and did not provide information she requested.
12. The Information Commissioner’s Office is the organisation best placed to consider complaints about how organisations handle people’s data and respond to requests for information. In the absence of a wider complaint within our remit, there is not a good reason for us to consider the matter instead. Mrs X has made a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
13. Finally, we will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mrs X’s complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaint handling when we are not looking at the underlying issues.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman