Summary: We will not investigate this complaint concerning childhood abuse while Ms X was in the Council’s care. This is because it is caught by the time restriction on our powers and there are insufficient reasons to start an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X says she was sexually and physically abused while in care and did not receive any support. Ms X says she suffered domestic violence and drug abuse as a result.
2. Ms X wants an investigation, so she feels heard. She also wants an apology and financial compensation

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The Council has responded to Ms X. It says it considered if it could investigate her complaint under its children’s social care complaints procedure. It decided not to as it says the core matters occurred over more than 20 years ago. It says it could not carry out a fair investigation because of the time that has passed.
8. The Council also advised Ms X she could obtain independent legal advice from a solicitor with experience in historic child abuse and children in care claims. The Council said a solicitor would be able to advise her of legal options including any potential civil claim.
9. The Council stated that Ms X could seek support from organisations that provide advice and emotional support to people who have experienced abuse. And that she could contact the Police for advice on criminal matters.
10. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about administrative fault, and we do this by assessing the evidence available.
11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint due to it being caught by the time restriction on our powers and insufficient reasons for us to investigate now. In our experience, the further away in time an investigation takes place from the events to be investigated, the more difficult it may be to establish what happened with reasonable confidence. In older cases we are less likely to be able to gather sufficient evidence to reach a sound judgement due to staff turnover, faded memories and lack of records.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is caught by the time restriction on our powers and there are insufficient reasons to start an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman