North Lincolnshire Council (21 018 075)

Category : Children's care services > Child protection

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 11 Apr 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about children services attempts to safeguard a child. It is unlikely we would find fault and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, says the Council is preventing his contact with D.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:
    • there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
    • we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
  2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by maladministration and service failure. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)
  3. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
  3. In considered Mr X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

Back to top

My assessment

  1. Mr X, an adult, says D is pregnant with his child. He says D is 14. He says the Council is preventing or trying to prevent his contact with D.
  2. It is unlikely we would find fault in the Council taking steps to safeguard a pregnant 14 year old girl. We cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks of contact with D. Only those with parental responsibility for D or the Courts can agree to that.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it does not meet the tests of our Assessment Code, we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks and we are unlikely to find fault.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings