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.

The complaint

1. Ms B says the Council has made it very difficult for her to set up contact with her son D and says the Council has neglected him and covered up its neglect. Ms B wants to look after her son with a care order in place.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
3. 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 would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information and documentation Ms B and the Council provided. I sent Ms B a copy of my draft decision for comment.

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What I found

5. The court placed D under the care of the Council. Under these circumstances the Council has a duty to endeavour to promote contact between the child and their parents.
6. The Council says it invited Ms B to attend a meeting to complete a contact agreement, however, Ms B said she did not have a telephone or email so contact with her was limited. Ms B was advised to call in on a specific date to arrange contact but was unable to do this.
7. The Council has advised Ms B to contact D’s social worker to arrange contact with him which is in his best interests. It has also advised Ms B of her right to apply to the court to make an order about contact if she is unhappy with the arrangements it has made. There is not enough evidence of fault with these actions to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.
8. The Ombudsman cannot say Ms B should have D living with her on a care order, only a court can make this decision. Ms B can ask the court to consider her views about neglect and decide whether alternative arrangements will be in D’s best interests.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault with the actions taken by the Council to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman