Summary: Ms B complained about the way the Council investigated concerns about her care of her children. She said the Council’s actions and the lack of support meant she had to leave the area. There was fault by the Council that caused injustice to Ms B. The Council will apologise and make a payment to her.

The complaint

1. I call the complainant Ms B. She complained about the way the Council investigated concerns about her care of her children. She says the Council discriminated against her, harassed her and she was subjected to racism. She said the Council’s actions and the lack of support meant she had to leave the area.

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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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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 provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome; or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

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 the complaint and documents provided by Ms B and spoke to her I asked the Council to comment on the complaint and provide information. Ms B and the Council now have an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I will consider their comments before making a final decision.
7. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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What I found

Summary of the relevant law and guidance

8. The Children Act 1989 (the Act) and statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children sets out councils’ responsibilities to safeguard children.
9. Referrals may come from the child, agencies involved with children such as health and schools, concerned family members, friends, neighbours or members of the public. When the council accepts a referral, the social worker has the lead professional role. S/he should clarify with the referrer, where possible, what the concerns are and how and why they have arisen.

Initial assessment

10. The council should make initial enquiries of agencies involved with the child and family, for example, health visitor, GP, schools and nurseries. The information gathering at this stage enables the council to assess the nature and level of any harm the child may be facing. The assessment may result in:
• No further action;
• A decision to carry out a more detailed assessment of the child’s needs;
• A decision to convene a strategy meeting (see below).

The child and family must be informed of the action to be taken.

11. The social worker should see the child as soon as possible if the decision is that the referral requires further assessment.

Strategy discussion

12. Where initial assessment shows a child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm the council and the police hold a strategy discussion. This may be a telephone discussion. The purpose of a strategy discussion is to decide immediate safeguarding actions and to decide the extent of information giving, especially to parents. A strategy meeting may include other professionals involved with the child.
13. The lead agency (generally the Council, but sometimes Health) must see the child, seeking his or her views and record the outcome. Where the social worker decides emergency action is not needed they will meet with the family and agree plans to safeguard the child’s welfare. The child may be considered a child in need and safeguarding activity stopped.
14. In case where significant harm is still a concern, the strategy discussion:
• Shares information;
• Agrees the conduct and timing of any criminal investigation;
• Decides whether to make enquiries under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989.
15. Where agencies decide to make section 47 enquiries, the strategy discussion will decide:
• What further information is needed if an assessment has already begun and how to obtain and record it. The assessment should be completed within 45 working days of the referral;
• The immediate and short term action to safeguard the child, who will do it and in what timescale;
• Whether legal action is needed.

Section 47 enquiries

16. Assessors should consider the child’s developmental needs, parenting capacity and family and environmental factors. The child’s interests come first. Where a particular need is identified during the assessment, the council should not wait for the assessment to be completed before commissioning services.
17. Local authority social workers have a statutory duty to lead assessments under section 47. The social worker should:
• Carry out enquiries in a way which minimises distress for the child and family;
• See the child to ascertain their wishes and feelings, assess their understanding of the situation and their relationships and circumstances;
• Interview parents/care/givers and determine the wider social and environmental factors which impact on the family;
• Gather information about the child and family’s history;
• With other professionals, analyse the findings of the assessment and evidence about what interventions are likely to be effective. This is to determine the child’s needs, the level of risk faced, to inform what help should be provided and act to provide that help.

Initial Child Protection Conference

18. If the information gathered under section 47 substantiates concerns and the child may remain at risk of significant harm the social worker will arrange a child protection conference within 15 working days of the strategy meeting.

What happened

19. The Council received a referral about Ms B’s care of her children in June 2020. An officer spoke to Ms B and there was a home visit in early July where Ms B agreed to an early help assessment.
20. The Council received another referral later in July from the ambulance service. An officer contacted Ms B and saw her in August. There was also contact from the children’s nursery at around this time. The Council’s records show that Ms B withdrew her agreement to the assessment. Also the children were going to be staying with a relative while Ms B had an operation.
21. At the end of September the Council received another referral from the ambulance service. An officer visited Ms B. She did not agree to an assessment and was looking to move out of the Council’s area.
22. The Council held a strategy discussion where it was agreed to investigate under S47 of the Act. A social worker visited Ms B the next day.
23. The Council held an initial child protection case conference in early November. Ms B attended. The outcome of the case conference was that a referral should be made to the area Ms B was moving to.

Analysis

24. The Council’s involvement with Ms B that is relevant to this complaint began in June 2020. Concerns were raised about Ms B’s parenting of her children and the Council contacted her and visited her. The Council offered some support but Ms B was doubtful that what was available would be helpful. The Council needed to make some enquiries to assess whether there was risk to the children. And some support around arranging childcare was provided. There was no fault here.
25. Matters escalated when there was a further referral and the Council convened a strategy meeting which led to the decision to undertake S47 enquiries. There was no fault in how the Council made that decision. Its records show officers considered the contact they had had with Ms B and the referrals received gave grounds to proceed.
26. But there is no evidence to show the Council explained to Ms B that it had moved on and it was now in making formal child protection enquiries. The guidance requires enquiries to be made in a way that minimises distress for the family. That decision should have been made clear to Ms B so she knew what was happening and what the next steps might be.
27. The Council provided no information to show how Ms B was informed of the initial child protection conference. It seems likely it was through a phone call at short notice. Nor have I seen anything to show what information she was given about this or when she was given a copy of the assessment. This is not satisfactory and is fault.
28. Ms B considered the Council had used an incorrect term in the assessment to describe the ethnicity of her children. The Council said this had not been specifically discussed with Ms B. It has written to Ms B saying it will amend its records if she says what her preferred term would be. I do not consider I can ask the Council to do more here.
29. The Council has accepted it delayed in sending Ms B the minutes of the case conference. The Council apologised for this when it responded to Ms B’s complaint. I do not consider I can achieve anything more here.

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Agreed action

30. The Council will apologise to Ms B for failing to communicate with her properly. It will also pay her £250 to acknowledge the impact this will have had on her. It will do so within one month of the final decision.
31. The Council will remind officers of the importance of clear and transparent communication with members of the public. And the need to record when it is decided not to share information. It should provide evidence of this to us within two months of the final decision.

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Final decision

32. There was fault by the Council that caused injustice to Ms B.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman