Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council’s children’s services. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and further investigation into the matters raised by the complainant would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains about the actions of the Council’s children’s services who carried out a safeguarding assessment of his daughter. Mr X says he has not been listened to and wants a change of Social Worker.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council carried out a child in need assessment after concerns were raised about the care of Mr X’s child. As part of its assessment the Council requested information from the Police and other Local Authorities. Mr X complained that the case should be closed and that the Social Worker allocated to the case should be changed as they were not listening to Mr X.
6. In responding to Mr X’s complaint, the Council apologised for a delay in completing its assessment which it said was caused by delays in receiving responses from the Police and other Local Authorities, and the Council said it would chase responses. It said it would not change the families Social Worker as this would cause further delay to the case. The case was subsequently progressed to child protection enquiries under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989, due to information received from another Local Authority.
7. The Council has now completed its child in need assessment. It apologised and explained the reasons for the delay and fully explained the reasons why it would not close the case without first completing its assessment. The Council also explained that it would not change the families Social Worker, because this would cause further delays. Having carefully considered these points, I will not investigate them because further investigation would not achieve a different outcome.
8. I will not investigate the Council’s decision to progress to Section 47 enquiries because there is no evidence of fault. Councils have a duty to investigate if there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. They must decide whether they should take any action to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare. (Children Act 1989, section 47). We are unlikely to criticise the Council for doing so in Mr X’s case given the nature of the information received from the other Local Authority.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate @’s complaint because @

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman