The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the failure to pay her an incentive payment for being in education as a care leaver. There are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, says the Council failed to give her an incentive payment as a care leaver.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 Miss X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X is now 27. She was cared for by the Council as a child. She says the Council should have given her an incentive payment of £10 per week for full time study or £5 per week for part time study when she was still in education under the age of 21. She says this was during the period 2013 to 2015.
Miss X says this amount was not paid to her, was not in her pathway plan and her advisor had not discussed it with her. She believes they were inexperienced.
Miss X says she did not know about the payment until she discovered a document when recently decluttering her home.
We cannot investigate the Council’s lack of support to Miss X during the period 2013 to 2015 unless there are good reasons. These events are more than 12 months old. It is clear Miss X had been given information about it, as she has recently found the document. There are no good reasons why Miss X could not have complained sooner.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman