Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about alleged fault in the course of child protection action. This is because we can achieve nothing significant by doing so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs X, complains that the Council was at fault in the course of child protection action relating to her son.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X’s son was the subject of child protection action as a result of concerns for his welfare. Mrs X complains that social workers who carried out child and family assessments were at fault and that the assessments themselves were flawed. She believes the social workers unreasonably chose not to support her and have failed to act in her son’s best interests. She contends that the Council’s intervention led to her son leaving her care.
6. In response to Mrs X’s complaint, the Council has apologised that its actions left her aggrieved and has met with her to discuss her complaint. It has carried out a new assessment which, in its view, recognises Mrs X’s views. It says child protection action has concluded, though it continues to regard Mrs X’s son as a Child in Need.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we could not achieve anything significant by doing so. The initial assessment has been superseded and Mrs X’s disagreements with it are part of the record of the case. The Ombudsman will not normally ask for the content of child and family assessments to be changed retrospectively because they reflect the views of officers at the time they were produced. The most we will seek to achieve is that a record of the complainant’s views are added to the file. Mrs X’s views are set out in her complaint, so this has already been achieved.
8. If Mrs X believes the Council’s records contain inaccuracies, it is open to her to pursue her legal right to rectification. There is no role here for the Ombudsman.
9. Given that Mrs X shares parental responsibility for her son with her husband, it is not for the Council to determine where he lives and who has contact with him. We cannot conclude that the Council is responsible for who Mrs X’s son lives with and investigation of this matter is not warranted

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we cannot achieve anything significant by doing so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman