Summary: There is no fault in the Council’s decision not to escalate Mr X’s complaint as the matters he complains of are subject to ongoing court proceedings. The Council has offered to review his complaints once court proceedings have completed. This response follows the statutory guidance therefore we have no reason to be critical of the decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complained the Council refused to escalate his complaint about Children’s Services to stage 2 of the children’s complaints procedure.

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What I have investigated

2. The process the Council followed when responding to Mr X’s complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about a personnel issue. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 4, as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’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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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered Mr X’s complaint and the information he provided.
7. I considered the Council’s replies to Mr X’s complaints.
8. Mr X and the Council were given the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision. I considered the comments I received from Mr X. The Council advised me it was happy with my draft decision.

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What I found

9. Under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 the Council has a duty to investigate if there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child in its area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, ‘significant harm’. If the Council finds there are enough grounds it must take action to protect the child. It may arrange a strategy meeting to decide whether to call a multi-agency child protection conference. The conference will consider evidence from professionals and organisations involved with the child and may decide to provide the child with a child protection plan. This sets out the actions necessary to safeguard the child’s safety and welfare, and who is responsible for taking those actions.
10. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. At stage 2 of this procedure, the Council appoints an Independent Investigator and an Independent Person (who is responsible for overseeing the investigation). If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage 2 investigation, they can ask for a stage 3 review.
11. Complaints about child protection action under section 47 are exempt from the statutory procedure for children’s complaints.

What happened

12. Mr X and his partner, Miss Y have children together who are subject to a Child Protection Plan. Section 47 court proceedings for Mr X and Miss Y’s children are still ongoing.
13. Mr X has submitted complaints about the following:
• The conduct of social workers;
• He was unhappy with parts of the child protection plan and requested it be amended;
• The outcome of the conference was that the children were suffering significant emotional harm therefore a psychotherapist should be working with the children and not a health professional;
• The allocated social worker should receive training on what constitutes physical chastisement of children as his opinion differed from the social workers;
• The Council did not prepare a report for the Court by the allocated time.
14. Mr X also complained about the Council’s proposal to change the social worker. The Council said in its stage 1 response that the allocated social worker will continue working with the children as Mr X had agreed to put his differences aside in order for the children to have a continuous service from a social worker they already know.
15. Mr X denies saying he was willing to put his differences aside but he says he did agree the social worker should continue working with the children.
16. The Council has advised Mr X the social worker is experienced and does not advocate any forms of physical chastisement due to the impact this could have on the children. The Council also provided Mr X with information on the effect of chastisement on children.
17. The Council has advised Mr X the matters he complains of are in relation to matters being considered by the court and it is reasonable to await the outcome of those proceedings before agreeing on the next steps via the complaint process. Mr X was of the view his complaints were not related to matters being considered by the court and therefore refused to accept the Council’s response.
18. The Council offered Mr X the opportunity to meet with the relevant professionals with a view to resolve the concerns he had about his children’s welfare. Mr X refused this offer and requested the Council to respond to his complaints in writing.

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Analysis

19. The Council responded to Mr X within the required timeframe and provided a response to each aspect of his complaint.
20. Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council’s response to his complaints however there are ongoing court proceedings relating to the children and the complaints procedure allows such proceedings to be exempt from the process.
21. The Council has offered to review his complaints once court proceedings have completed. This response follows the statutory guidance therefore there is no evidence of fault.
22. The Council has offered Mr X the opportunity to meet with the relevant professionals to try and resolve the concerns he has but Mr X has refused this offer and he is entitled to make this decision.

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Final decision

23. There is no evidence of fault by the Council. Therefore, I have completed my investigation and closed this complaint.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

24. The conduct of the social worker and Mr X’s request for disciplinary action to be taken. As per paragraph 4, the Ombudsman cannot investigate personnel issues.
25. I did not investigate the Council failing to provide a report to the Court on time. This is a matter for the Court to consider.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman