London Borough of Southwark (19 012 745)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 10-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot and will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the way the Council and a school responded to his allegations about his child’s care. We cannot investigate the School’s action. We cannot investigate the Council’s response as the Courts considered the child’s care.

Durham County Council (19 013 103)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 10-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate if the Council should have taken action to protect Mr X’s children. The Court is considering the children’s care and we cannot investigate the same issues.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (19 010 878)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 09-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the involvement of the Council’s children’s services with the complainant and her daughter. This is because there is no fault in the Council’s actions in the only issue which is in the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Blackburn with Darwen Council (19 014 407)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 09-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because we cannot consider matters which have been decided in court. The complaint is therefore outside our jurisdiction with no discretion to investigate.

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (19 012 429)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 08-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the actions taken by the Council when it removed her daughter, Ms C from her care and took court action. This is because the court made the decision about where Ms C should live and the contact arrangements. The Ombudsman cannot investigate these matters.

Southampton City Council (19 012 470)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 08-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about the actions of the Council regarding her contact with her son, D. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault with the actions taken by the Council to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

Peterborough City Council (19 013 567)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 08-Jan-2020

Summary: The complainant says the Council failed to take her views in to account when it removed her children from her care. The Ombudsman cannot investigate any aspect of this complaint as this has been decided by the courts.

London Borough of Barnet (19 004 838)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 08-Jan-2020

Summary: We have discontinued our investigation into Ms B’s complaint. It is late, and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion and investigate events from 2016 to early 2018.

Cheshire East Council (19 004 115)

Statement Upheld Child protection 07-Jan-2020

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s child safeguarding actions concerning his family. He said these caused him and his family avoidable distress and financial hardship. There was fault by the Council causing some avoidable distress to Mr and Mrs X. The Council should have considered Mr X’s complaint through all three stages of the statutory children’s complaint procedure. The Council has apologised to Mr X and made service improvements to avoid repetition of the faults. It has agreed to pay Mr and Mrs X £500 as token remedy for avoidable distress and to review its complaint handling to ensure it follows statutory guidance.

Staffordshire County Council (19 005 035)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 07-Jan-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaints about the Council’s children services’ actions. We cannot investigate legal proceedings. There are other bodies better placed to consider her complaints about a social worker’s professionalism and a data protection breach.