Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to properly support Ms X when it became involved with her family. This is because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Ms X made several complaints about the Council’s actions when it became involved her family.
2. She said the Council failed to properly support her and it led to distress and injustice.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X self-referred herself to the Council’s family support team when she began experiencing housing issues. A social worker visited Ms X to determine what could be done for Ms X but felt there was limited help the Council could offer.
7. Ms X complained to the Council saying that her issues had not been resolved or taken seriously. She further complained that she had been ignored by the Council.
8. The Council investigated Ms X’s complaint points in line with the Children’s Statutory Complaints Process and reviewed its records and spoke to the social workers who were allocated Ms X’s complaint. The Council did not uphold Ms X’s complaints. The Council found it had offered Ms X support where necessary but that many of Ms X’s complaints had been unfounded or were out of the Council’s remit.
9. Ms X remains unhappy with the situation and wants us to find the Council at fault. The Ombudsman does not re-investigate complaints which have already been satisfactorily responded to. The Council has conducted a thorough investigation into Ms X’s complaint points and has not found fault. There is no evidence the investigation was flawed. An investigation into this matter would therefore be unlikely to result in a finding of fault on the Council’s part.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman