Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the involvement of the Council’s social services with the complainant and his family. This is because there is nothing he could add to the Council’s response and he could not achieve the complainant’s desired outcomes.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B, says that:
• The involvement of the Council’s social services led to his children being unfairly removed from his care; and
• The Council’s family assessment and its file on to Mr B contain inaccuracies and distortions about the PA’s past and present life

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information provided by Mr B and I have sent him a draft decision for his comments.

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What I found

5. Following a referral by the school attended by one of Mr B’s children, regarding Mr B’s behaviour and its effect on his children, concerns were raised to the Council’s social services about domestic violence in the home. These concerns were reported by Mr B’s then partner, and their children. The Council’s social services were then briefly involved with the family to help Mr B’s partner to move herself and the children to a place of safety
6. A Single Assessment was then carried out on the family by social services. Mr B says it is inaccurate and distorts the facts about him.
7. It did contain a recommendation for no contact currently between Mr B and his children due to the domestic violence allegations.
8. The Single Assessment also closed social services’ involvement with the family, as it concluded there were no on-going concerns for the children.
9. Mr B has complained about the Single Assessment, as he says it contains inaccurate, unverified and distorted information about his actions both currently and in the past.
10. The Council says that if he lets it know what he regards as inaccurate in the Assessment or on his file, it will ensure that his comments are placed on the record.
11. It has advised him to seek legal advice regarding contact with his children as the matter is no longer a decision for social services.
12. We could not add anything further to the Council’s response to the complaint or achieve the outcomes that Mr B wants, of having the assessment altered, and contact with his children.
13. The lack of contact with Mr B is currently the decision of the children’s mother, and if Mr B wants contact with them, he would need to take legal advice regarding a possible case in the family court.

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Final decision

14. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because I cannot add to the Council’s investigation or achieve Mr B’s desired outcomes

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman