The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate how the Council dealt with various complaints from Mrs X. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The complaint is late and Mrs X could have complained earlier.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained how the Council dealt with her complaints about its Children’s Services Team and decisions taken about her housing situation. Mrs X said the Council had not properly responded to her complaints.
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 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 may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) 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
We will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint.
We expect people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are good reasons to do so. I do not consider that to be the case here. I see no reason why Mrs X could not have complained much earlier and so the exception at paragraph 3 applies to her complaint.
But even if the complaint was not late, it is unlikely we would investigate. There were appeal rights against the Council’s decisions regarding Mrs X’s housing situation. Some of the matters were best decided in court and we have no powers to consider such complaints. Certain issues appear to be a disagreement with the professional judgment of council officers. We cannot question such decisions unless there was fault in the way the decisions themselves were reached. It is not a good use of our resources to look at complaint handling as a standalone issue.
For the reasons set out above an investigation would not be appropriate.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because it is late and Mrs X could have complained earlier.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman