Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the education and support provided to a child because the complaint is late.

The complaint

1. Miss X’s complaints relate to the Council failing to provide her child with education and support, delays, a lack of oversight of provision and failing to act when her child was not accessing education. Miss X also complains about the way the Council handled her complaint.

Back to top

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)
4. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

7. Miss X raised her complaint with the Council in October 2025. Miss X says in her Stage 2 complaint escalation request to the Council her complaint “explicitly covered the period from Year 7 to February 2024”. Miss X brought her complaint to the Ombudsman in January 2026.
8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late. If she was unhappy with the Council’s actions before February 2025, she could have approached the Council and the Ombudsman sooner.
9. We will also not investigate how the Council dealt with Miss X’s complaint as it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling when we are not looking at the substantive issue.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman