Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to make appropriate educational provision for the complainant. The complaint is late and there are insufficient grounds for us to consider it now.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains that the Council failed to provide him with appropriate education, thereby preventing him from taking public examinations and damaging his future prospects.

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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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X complains that between 2018 and 2020 the Council failed to provide him with appropriate education. He says the disruption to his education, which he attributes to fault on the Council’s part, denied him the opportunity to take public examinations at the end of Year 11, thereby preventing him from accessing further education and damaging his future prospects.
7. In response to Mr X’s complaint, the Council has said that, while it did make alternative educational provision while he was out of school, it accepts that there was no clear pathway set out for him to take the examinations. It has apologised for what it describes as a poor level of support provided during the relevant period, and offered Mr X a payment of £2000
8. Through his representative, Mr X has said that he regards the Council’s offer as inadequate. He believes it should be substantially increased, and that the Council should provide him with support to enable him to take public examinations.
9. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us. The events about which Mr X complains took place between four and seven years before he came to the Ombudsman, and are therefore caught by the restriction on our jurisdiction. There are insufficient grounds for us to investigate the matter now.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are insufficient grounds on which to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman