London Borough of Bromley (21 005 758)

Category : Children's care services > Child protection

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 08 Sep 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council issuing child protection plans for Mrs X’s children. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant this.

The complaint

  1. Mrs X said the Council was wrong to make her children subject to child protection plans.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. The Council sent me a confidential copy of an interview with some of Mrs X’s children. The children’s words were quoted. A professional also said what she had observed about one of the children. On the balance of probabilities, it seems more likely than not that the children disclosed risk of harm involving Mrs X. Such disclosures would allow any authority with child protection responsibilities to take suitable action to safeguard children from harm, including making them subject to child protection plans.

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Final decision

We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant this.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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