Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about child protection. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to warrant investigation. Mrs X also has a right to go to court it would be reasonable to use should contact or residency arrangements for her child be in dispute.

The complaint

1. Mrs X said the Council failed to protect her child after he disclosed sexual abuse by an older child at the home of his father. She said the Council failed to take account of other matters, such as personal hygiene. She said a social worker told her pursuing the matter would make things worse. She wanted it to be recommended that her child should not see the other child.

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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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council provided a copy of its child protection record at my request. This showed it believed what happened to Mrs X’s child and that the child’s father had not fully recognised the significance of this. It also shows the Council had confidence in Mrs X and took the view that she was able to protect her child by withholding contact. It would not therefore be fault for the Council to take no further action. It would only have a further role should contact be disputed by the father via a court. In such circumstances, the court would ask the Council for its views.
8. It is unlikely investigation would establish what was said by one person to another. And it would not be likely to outweigh the clear recorded views of the child protection investigation.
9. The remaining points in Mrs X’s complaint concern the fitness of her ex-partner to act as a parent. She has the right to withhold contact, and any dispute about contact is one where it would be reasonable to go to court, as only a court could determine disputed contact arrangements.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant this. Mrs X also has a right to go to court it would be reasonable to use in the event of any dispute about contact arrangements for her child.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman