Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council’s children’s services dealt with matters concerning child protection. This is because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council and we cannot investigate matters that have been considered in court.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about how the Council dealt with child protection matters concerning her child. She says the Council included inaccurate information in reports, about the conduct of a social worker, that the Council did not adhere to a child protection plan and bout how contact between her and her child was supervised.

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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 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. I cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the contents of an assessment the Council completed, and subsequently presented to the Family Court, or the conduct of a social worker during the court proceedings. This is because the law does not allow us to investigate complaints about what has happened in court.
7. I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the conduct of a social worker outside of the court proceedings. This is because it is reasonable for Miss X to raise these concerns with their professional body, Social Work England, who are better placed to consider complaints about the conduct of their members.
8. I will not investigate how the Council dealt with the issue of supervision of contact between Miss X and her child and that it failed to implement the child protection plan due to missing some visits to the children. This is because investigation by the Ombudsman would not add to that already carried out by the Council. The Council has upheld these points and implemented appropriate service improvements. Furthermore, the social worker involved has since left the employment of the Council.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council and cannot investigate matters that have been considered in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman