Hampshire County Council (21 003 066)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Aug 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We do not propose to investigate this complaint about the temporary removal of the complainant’s children and their care during this time. This is because the complaint is made late and there are no good reasons to consider it now.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to here as Miss P, complains about the way in which the Council took her children into care, dealt with her concerns about the quality of care it arranged for them, and managed the court proceedings to determine her children’s residency.
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 P.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- The complainant has had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.
My assessment
- Ms P says that the Council unfairly took her children into care in 2015, and treated her badly in doing so.
- She further says that the arrangements made by the Council for her children’s care were unsatisfactory, but that it did not deal with her concerns properly.
- Miss P also complains about the Council’s management of the court case which determined residency for her children.
- We cannot consider complaints about matter known to the complainant more than 12 months previously unless there are good reasons to do so. In this case, the children were taken into care in 2015. Miss P complained to the Council in 2020, and to the LGSCO in 2021. I have seen no good reasons to investigate the complaint now, as Miss P could have complained at the time.
Final decision
- I will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is made late and there are no good reasons to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman