The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to properly safeguard Miss X. This is because the complaint relates to events that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for her to bring the complaint to us sooner.
The complaint
Miss X complains the Council failed to properly safeguard her between 2013 and 2017.
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 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 complained to the Council in 2023 regarding a social worker and their failure to properly safeguard her between 2013 and 2017. She said the Council’s actions had caused her physical and emotional harm.
The Council was unwilling to take Miss X’s complaint through its complaints process due to how long it had been since the events Miss X was complaining about took place.
Miss X brought her complaint to the Ombudsman because she wants us to find it at fault. The Ombudsman will not usually exercise discretion to investigate matters that took place more than 12 months before the complainant came to us, unless there are good reasons for the delay. In this case, the complainant is complaining about events that took place over 10 years ago. It would have been reasonable for her to have brought this complaint to us sooner.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the complaint relates to events that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for her to bring the complaint to us sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman