London Borough of Barnet (23 003 744)

Category : Children's care services > Child protection

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 21 Aug 2024

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to a safeguarding referral concerning her son because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, Ms X, complains that the Council was at fault in its response to a safeguarding referral concerning her son.

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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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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. Having received a safeguarding referral concerning Ms X’s son, the Council arranged for a social worker to meet with her to discuss her son’s welfare. Ms X says that, in the course of the discussion, she demonstrated that concerns about her son’s welfare were unfounded. She complains that the Council provided no report of the discussion to her, but subsequently passed the case to her home authority.
  2. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part. Councils are required to consider safeguarding referrals and we will not criticise the Council for the action it took. Once it became clear to the Council that Ms X resided in the area of another authority, it correctly passed the matter to that authority. Any subsequent actions are those of the home authority, not the Council.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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