The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with child safeguarding matters. This is because it is made late and I see no good reason to exercise discretion and consider it now.
The complaint
Mr X complains that the Council failed to consider his complaint about how it dealt with child safeguarding matters.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) 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 about the start of court action or 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
Mr X complained to the Council. He said that the Council failed to safeguard his child between 2017 and 2018 and that the subsequent court proceedings were flawed.
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with his child in between 2017 and 2018. This is because Mr X’s complaint is made late and I see no good reason why he could not have complained sooner. Furthermore, we have no powers to investigate what happened in court.
I also see no evidence of fault with the Council’s decision not to investigate Mr X’s complaint for the same reason.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is made late and I see no good reason to exercise discretion and consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman