Summary: The complainant alleged that the Council wrongly deregistered him and his partner as foster carers. We have decided to discontinue our involvement because the complainant has appealed to the Independent Review Mechanism Panel, which considers whether foster carers should be deregistered or not.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complained that the Council had wrongly deregistered him and his partner as foster carers.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome.
3. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy.
4. 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)

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What I have and have not investigated

5. We are not continuing with this investigation because Mr X has used the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) to challenge the Council’s decision to deregister him and his wife.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered Mr X’s written complaint and the Council’s written responses to his complaint. I sent a draft decision statement to the Council and to Mr X. I have taken into account Mr X’s further comments when reaching my final decision.

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What I found

Legal and administrative

7. Councils assess and approve foster carers. Where there are concerns about the care provided, a council’s Fostering Panel can recommend deregistration based on evidence provided to it by the fostering team.
8. Foster carers can appeal to the IRM to challenge these recommendations. The IRM can recommend approval or not. It will then be for the council’s agency decision maker to decide whether to accept the IRM recommendation.
9. If a complainant is dissatisfied with the IRM process, they can complain to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

What happened

10. Mr X and his wife had fostered a number of children in care for the Council. Because of concerns about the care they provided to one particular child, the Council’s Fostering Panel recommended that they were deregistered.
11. Mr and Mrs X appealed to the IRM Panel. In December 2022, the Panel unanimously recommended that they were deregistered. The Council’s agency decision maker accepted this recommendation, and Mr and Mrs X were formally deregistered.
12. When responding to the draft decision, Mr X said that he accepted the IRM decision to deregister them. But his complaint is about the Council’s failure to properly support them when caring for the foster children, that the Council’s accounting system regarding payments was faulty, that they had no support in presenting their case to the IRM and some of the documents presented by the Council to the IRM were fabricated and edited.

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Final decision

13. I recognise that Mr X is dissatisfied with how the Council has treated him and his wife. But his concerns about the way the Council acted was considered by the IRM and therefore Mr X’s concerns have already been considered by an independent body.
14. Mr X’s concerns about the way the IRM Panel is also not a matter which we can investigate. Mr X can complain to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
15. Accordingly, we are discontinuing our investigation because we cannot investigate Mr X’s complaints.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman