Summary: Mr B complains about the way the Council carried out its child protection risk assessments. He says the Councils reports are inaccurate and biased. The Ombudsman discontinued its investigation into Mr B’s complaint. It is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains about the way the Council carried out its child protection risk assessments. He says the Councils reports were inaccurate and biased.
2. He says this caused him distress and took a lot of time pursuing his complaint with the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.

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

4. When considering complaints, if there is a conflict of evidence, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we will weigh up the available relevant evidence and base our findings on what we think was more likely to have happened.
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 spoke to Mr B. I reviewed the information Mr B and the Council provided along with the relevant law and guidance.
7. Mr B and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I carefully considered the comments I received.

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What I found

Law and guidance

8. The Children Act 1989 and statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children sets out the council’s responsibilities to safeguard children.
9. Section 47 says when a Council suspects a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, the Council shall make enquiries to enable them to decide whether they should take any action to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare.

The Council’s complaint process

10. The Council says in most cases, once it receives a complaint it will discuss it with the complainant to see if it can resolve the issue without having to go through the complaints process
11. If it needs to look into the complaint further, it will carry out a formal investigation and respond to the complainant, in writing, within 20 working days of receiving the complaint
12. If the complainant is not satisfied with the response, they can ask the Council to review the decision.

What happened

13. Mr B was in a relationship with Ms C. They have a child together, child D. Mr B and Ms C’s relationship ended. There were concerns for D and children’s services became involved with the family. A social worker was allocated to work with the family and carry out assessments. Following the assessments there was a child protection conference and D was identified as a child in need of support.
14. Mr B was unhappy with the way the assessments were carried out and the communication he had with the social workers. He complained to the Council in July 2020. The Council provided a stage one response a week later.
15. Mr B remained unhappy and complained to the Ombudsman. We sent the complaint back to the Council to complete its review. It completed its review in November 2020. Mr B was not satisfied with the review and asked the Ombudsman to consider his complaint.

My findings

16. The Council provided a response to Mr B under 19 separate headings. Many of the headings fall within the same theme so I have grouped these together for my analysis and findings.

The Council failed to recognise Mr B as a victim of domestic abuse

17. Mr B says the Council only recognised Ms C as a victim of abuse by Mr B. He says he was a victim of abuse by Ms C. He says this was misrepresented in the reports and the Council did not offer him support.
18. The Council explains it can only report what it is told and the information it has been given. It explains the information it was given by the police. It also explains what support it offered Mr B.
19. A lot of the issues Mr B complains about are conversations with social workers. In its complaint investigation the Council spoke to the social workers and provided their responses to Mr B’s complaints. I am unable to make a finding on these issues because there is a disagreement between Mr B and the social workers about the content of the conversations. There are no recordings of the conversations. Further investigation will not enable me to come to a view on these issues.

Mr B disagrees with some of the information the Council included in its report

20. Mr B feels he was misrepresented in the report and he disagrees with some of information the social workers included. For example, Mr B says the report implies he drinks alcohol more often than he does.
21. Mr B also disagrees with the social workers assessment of the risk of violence he poses.
22. I did not investigate this part of Mr B’s complaint any further. The Council explained in its review why it included certain information in its report. It is down to the professional judgement of the social workers to decide what is relevant.
23. The Council partially upheld Mr B’s complaint that the risk assessment did not include a specific reference to the nature of his allegations against Ms C.
24. Further investigation of this part of the complaint is unlikely to lead to a different outcome than the Council’s own investigation. The Council apologised to Mr B for the complaint it upheld and says it will provide training to staff. This is a suitable remedy.

The Council delayed giving Mr B a copy of the final report

25. The Council delayed sending Mr B a copy of its final report from April to June 2020. The Council upheld this part of the complaint and apologised to Mr B for the delay. I do not think Mr B suffered a significant injustice from the delay and further investigation is unlikely to reach a different outcome.

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Final decision

26. I discontinued my investigation because it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman