Peterborough City Council (26 014 963)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 24 Sep 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about several failures by the Council. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons.
The complaint
- Miss X complains about several failures by the Council. This includes failure to keep, maintain and update files. She says the Council also failed to provide her with help and failed to supply her with important documents. Miss X says she has had to chase this for nine years and this has caused her significant distress.
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
- Miss X complained to the Council in 2005. She said she had been asking it for information for eight years. The Council asked Miss X to provide evidence of her contact with it, particularly any contact within the previous 12 months.
- In July 2025, the Council declined to consider Miss X’s complaint because the evidence she provided did not show any contact after 2022. It therefore decided the complaint was late, as it concerned events that had occurred more than 12 months earlier. Miss X said she did offer to provide further evidence. But She said she had no response.
- Miss X complained to us in August 2026. The matters she complains about are late because she was aware of them more than 12 months before approaching us. Whilst I understand Miss X says she has been complaining for several years, if she remained dissatisfied with the Council’s responses, she could have raised this with us sooner. I have seen no good reason for the delay in complaining to us and therefore no basis to exercise discretion to investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman