Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to the complainant’s concerns about his children’s welfare. This is because there is no evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr X, complains that the Council has failed to address his concerns about the welfare of his children.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 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)

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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. Mr X’s children live with their mother. His contact with his older child is subject to a court order. He has no contact with his younger child.
6. Mr X alleges that the treatment of the children by their mother amounts to abuse. He says the older child lives in a climate of fear and is prevented from speaking openly with him. He says he is denied any contact with the younger child. He wants the Council to cease downplaying his concerns and ensure that the children are seen by a child psychologist who specialises in issues relating to ethnicity.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no indication of fault on the Council’s part. In response to Mr X’s complaint, the Council says it has considered the matters he has brought to its attention. but it does not accept that they provide grounds on which to take child protection action. Mr X disagrees with this position but that does not mean it amounts to fault.
8. Councils must consider concerns brought to them about the welfare of children. That does not mean they must act on those concerns. Whether to do so is a decision for officers to make. Without evidence of fault in the way officers make a decision, the Ombudsman cannot criticise it, or intervene to substitute an alternative view. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council has responded to Mr X’s concerns and its reasons for taking no further action have been properly set out. There are therefore no grounds for the Ombudsman to investigate the complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no indication of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman