Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to comply with a previous decision made by this Office in 2005. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to pay him £2,100 in compensation following a decision by the Ombudsman on a complaint he made in 2005. He wants the Council to pay him £9,788.01 which he has calculated as the initial amount of £2,100 plus compound interest at a rate of 8% per year.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
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 has done. (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 Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X has known about the Council’s alleged non-payment since 2005 but he did not complain to us about it until March 2025. The complaint is therefore some 19 years late.
7. Although we have discretion to investigate late complaints I consider it would have been reasonable for Mr X to complain to us at the time; I will not therefore exercise our discretion in this case.
8. It is in any event unlikely we could carry out any meaningful investigation into what happened given the amount of time that has passed since the events complained about.
9. We do not have any records of our decisions made in 2005 or to show any steps taken to monitor compliance with our decisions. It is also unlikely the Council holds such records or, therefore, that we could prove whether or not any payment was made.
10. Our decisions are also not legally binding so if the Council decided not to comply with our recommendation at the time we have no powers to force it to do so now.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is late and it would have been reasonable for Mr X to complain to us sooner. It is also unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman