Salford City Council (19 020 975)

Statement Upheld Child protection 07-Dec-2020

Summary: Mrs X complains of inadequate support from the Council after she left her husband due to domestic abuse. She says the Council has wrongly refused to consider her complaint under Stage 3 of the statutory children's complaints procedure. The Council is at fault and has remedied this by offering Mrs X a Stage 3 review.

Cumbria County Council (19 014 575)

Statement Upheld Child protection 03-Dec-2020

Summary: Ms B complained the Council had failed to arrange Looked After Child meetings from when her child, C, first went into care. It also failed to communicate properly with her or to address complaints she made. This meant she was unable to exercise parental responsibility for C. There is evidence of fault and the Council has been asked to apologise, make a financial settlement and to amend documentation.

Devon County Council (19 020 560)

Statement Upheld Child protection 30-Nov-2020

Summary: Miss B complains the Council failed to implement a child protection plan put in place when her son, who is now 15, was a baby. She considers the Council has not provided adequate support to her. She further complains about the way the Council has considered her complaints and the remedy provided. She says it has had an adverse impact on her and her son's mental health and she has suffered financially by not receiving the benefits to which they were entitled. There was fault which caused injustice to Miss B. The Council has apologised to Miss B but it will now make a payment to her.

Gloucestershire County Council (19 011 450)

Statement Not upheld Child protection 27-Nov-2020

Summary: Miss B complains about how the Council dealt with her when it took child protection and safeguarding action. The Council has responded to the issues to make contact arrangements clearer and has apologised if there were misunderstandings. Overall, there is no clear fault by the Council.

Brighton & Hove City Council (19 020 412)

Statement Not upheld Child protection 23-Nov-2020

Summary: Mr X complains the Council arranged for his daughter to move out of the area following allegation made by his ex-wife. He says the Council failed to investigate the situation, did not talk to him, passed on false allegations about him to another council, and deliberately misconstrued and withheld information. The Ombudsman does not find fault with the Council's actions.

Southampton City Council (19 016 812)

Statement Upheld Child protection 19-Nov-2020

Summary: The complainant alleges that the Council failed to act in accordance with the requirements of the statutory Working Together 2018 child protection guidance. The Council has already found fault in its actions. But the Ombudsman does not consider the Council has recognised the resulting adverse consequences and it has not provided an appropriate remedy for the family's injustice. The Council has agreed the Ombudsman's recommendations to remedy this. He has therefore completed his investigation and will close the complaint.

Essex County Council (19 021 234)

Statement Upheld Child protection 18-Nov-2020

Summary: Ms X complains about the actions of children services. She says the service did not investigate the fact her son had made numerous false allegations against her. She also says the Council made comments about her to her son's school that was untrue and passed on inaccurate information to another Council. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for the comments it made to her son's school. We have made some recommendations.

Nottinghamshire County Council (19 020 882)

Statement Not upheld Child protection 09-Nov-2020

Summary: Mr X complained about the processes and information in two child and family assessments the Council completed. He also says the Council failed to ensure his children were suitably educated. The Council was not at fault.

Rutland County Council (19 012 800)

Statement Not upheld Child protection 06-Nov-2020

Summary: although the Council has not provided evidence of its attempts to engage with Ms M before holding a strategy discussion, or her refusal to allow social workers to speak to B, there are no grounds for the Ombudsman to question the Council's decisions to begin a child protection investigation or to make B the subject of a child protection plan. I have decided not to investigate the matter further since further investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

Nottinghamshire County Council (19 011 791)

Statement Upheld Child protection 05-Nov-2020

Summary: Miss X complains about the Council's handling of a child protection referral about her son. I have completed my investigation. There is some fault by the Council. It should apologise, pay Miss X £450 and take action to improve its service.