Summary: Ms X was unhappy with the Council’s decision not to accept a complaint about its involvement with her family. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council. Also, Ms X does not have authority to complain on behalf of the child at the heart of her case.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms X, is unhappy the Council will not consider a complaint about its involvement with her family. Ms X is unhappy her son’s stepdaughter was removed from his care – which he shared with the child’s mother.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
3. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council has refused to investigate Ms X’s complaint because she does not have parental responsibility for her son’s stepdaughter. It says the child’s mother can make a complaint.
6. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council. It has explained why it will not accept a complaint and it is open for the child’s mother to complain to the Council.
7. The same requirement regarding parental responsibility and consent apply to the Ombudsman. We are therefore unable to investigate the substantive issues Ms X wants the Council to look at.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman