The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a report produced by the Council in 2022. This is because the complaint has been made late and there are no good reasons to investigate.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the content of a report written by Council officers used in court proceedings in 2022. He says it contains untrue and unfair comments about him.
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) We cannot investigate a complaint after court action starts nor what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, 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
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint as it has been made late outside of our usual expectation that complainant raise their concerns within 12 months of becoming aware. And there are no good reasons to investigate given we cannot look at reports used in court proceedings.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it has been made late and there are no good reasons to investigate.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman