Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her contact with her grandchild. This is because the complaint is late. We are unlikely to add anything to the investigation the Council carried out or achieve the outcome Mrs X wants, even if we exercised discretion to investigate this late complaint,

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the way the Council has treated her as her grandchild’s foster carer. Mrs X believes the Council’s actions have led to her losing contact with her grandchild, causing significant mental distress. She wants the Council to apologise and explain its actions

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X’s grandchild is in foster care. In October 2023, Mrs X complained to Council about no longer having supervised contact with her grandchild. The responded under stage one of its complaints procedure in early November 2023.
8. The Council explained its reasons for suspending supervised contact and that it would continue to work with Mrs X’s grandchild to support their wishes and feelings. The Council did not uphold Mrs X’s complaints.
9. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. The Council’s stage one complaint response provided details on how Mrs X could escalate her complaint if she remained dissatisfied. There appears no reason why Mrs X could not have either made a stage two complaint to the Council or brought her concerns to us sooner.
10. Even if we were to exercise discretion to investigate this late complaint, it is unlikely we could add anything meaningful to the Council’s investigation or response.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late and we cannot not add anything to the Council’s investigation or provide the outcome Mrs X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman