Salford City Council (25 020 213)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
The complaint
- Miss X complains that the Council has ignored her complaints since 2023. She says she urgently needs contact from the local authority and has already been referred to adult safeguarding. She states that her children are being abused and that staff are disregarding their culture. She also says the Independent Reviewing Officer is failing in their duty of care and that the service is blocking contact.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
- 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)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X says the Council has ignored her complaints since 2023.
- I will not investigate this part of her complaint because the issues happened more than 12 months ago, and I see no good reason why she could not have complained to us sooner.
- In January 2025, the Council told Miss X to contact it after the legal proceedings ended. I will not investigate this issue because there is not enough evidence of fault. The matters she raised were part of the court proceedings, and the Council acted in line with its procedures.
- Miss X says her children are being abused and denied their culture. I will not investigate this issue because she has not raised these concerns directly with the Council. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint unless the organisation knows about it and has had a chance to respond.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because her issues from 2023 were raised late. There is no evidence of fault in the Council telling Miss X to contact it after the court proceedings. The Council has also not had an opportunity to respond to the new issues.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman