Kent County Council (21 014 846)

Category : Children's care services > Child protection

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 24 Apr 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Miss B is complaining about the Council’s handling of her grandchildren’s child protection case over the past six years. However, we have no jurisdiction to investigate this complaint. This is because part of Miss B’s complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion in this respect. The other parts of Miss B’s complaint have been subject to legal proceedings and I have no jurisdiction to investigate in these circumstances. We have therefore discontinued our investigation.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I refer to as Miss B, is complaining about the Council’s handling of her grandchildren’s child protection case over the past six years. Specifically, Miss B alleges the following:
      1. The Council has not addressed her safeguarding concerns relating to the wellbeing and safety of her grandchildren.
      2. The Council unfairly refused to consider her for special guardianship over her grandchildren when it initiated court proceedings to remove the children.
      3. The Council wrongly allowed her grandchildren to be moved by their father to another part of the country which is against the best interests of the children.
      4. The Council refused her request for regular contact with her grandchildren.
  2. Miss B says the alleged failings have resulted in distress and hardship for her as children’s grandmother. Further, she says the Council’s failings are adversely affecting the children’s wellbeing. As a desired outcome, she wants the Council to investigate her concerns and review the decisions it has made.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
  2. 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended).
  3. 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).
  4. The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916).
  5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended).

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I have read Miss B’s complaint to the Ombudsman. I have also had regard to the responses of the Council, supporting documents and legislation. I invited both Miss B and the Council to comment on a draft of my decision. Each of their comments were fully considered before a final decision was made.

Back to top

My findings

Chronology of events

  1. Between 2016 and 2020, Miss B has raised a number of safeguarding referrals to the Council relating to the welfare of her grandchildren.
  2. In February 2021 the Council initiated legal care proceedings supporting an interim plan of the children being placed with paternal grandparents.
  3. In March 2021, Miss B initiated legal proceedings as she who wanted leave to apply for a Child Arrangements Order. The Council did not support this application for a Child Arrangements Order for either of the children.
  4. In September 2021, Miss B withdrew her application and asked for the case to be closed. The decision was made by Miss B because the parents were contesting the application. She also felt that the family had been through enough stress and if they felt in the future they could allow a small amount of contact then Miss B could be contacted directly.
  5. In October 2021 an Interim Supervision Order was made to the other local authority and the Court gave permission for the children’s father to move with the children to the Northwest prior to the final hearing. The case was subsequently closed to the Council.
  6. The proceedings concluded in January 2022 with a Child Arrangements Order being made to the children’s father and a three-month Supervision Order to the other local authority where the children are now resident.
  7. Subsequently, Ms B has complained to the Council in relation to the above issues. However, the Council had declined to respond because Miss B does not hold parental responsibility for either of her grandchildren.

My assessment

Safeguarding concerns

  1. By law, I cannot investigate any complaint made more than 12 months of the complainant becoming aware of the problem, unless there are good reasons to exercise discretion in this respect. Miss B has raised child protection concerns relating to her grandchildren between 2016 and 2020. She says the Council failed to act on those concerns. On the face of it, the complaint is both historical and late. I have however considered whether there are good reasons to exercise my discretion and investigate. Considering the substantial length of time which has passed since concerns were initially raised by Miss B, I consider the following:
      1. There would be difficulties in establishing the material facts with reasonable confidence and gathering sufficient evidence to reach a sound judgement.
      2. We cannot apply current standards, guidance, or professional expectations to historical situations. It is therefore likely to be more difficult to reach a firm and fair conclusion on whether there was maladministration in Miss B’s case.
      3. It is likely to be more difficult to achieve a meaningful remedy in Miss B’s case, given the length of time that has already passed, the difficulty in establishing causality over longer time periods, and changes in the situation of the parties.
  2. For these reasons, I do not consider that there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision relating to the Council’s responsiveness to Miss B’s historical concerns. I consider Paragraph 4 applies and we have no legal jurisdiction to investigate these matters.

Legal proceedings

  1. By law, I have no jurisdiction to investigate any matter which has been subject to legal proceedings in a court of law. I also cannot investigate an issue which is materially connected to those issues which were subject to legal proceedings. I have no discretion in this regard. Complaint outcomes 1(b) to (d) were all subject to legal proceedings. The restriction I describe at Paragraphs 5 to 6 therefore apply and I have no jurisdiction to investigate these aspects of the complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. I have discontinued my investigation because I do not have the legal jurisdiction to investigate this complaint. This is because part of Miss B’s complaint is late and the other parts were subject to legal proceedings in a court of law.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings