Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to the placement of a child with the complainant. This is because our intervention would not add anything significant to the investigation the Council has carried out.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss X, complains that the Council’s social workers were at fault throughout the process of the placement of a child with her, and that the Council failed to respond reasonably to her subsequent complaint.

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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 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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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. A child related to Miss X was placed in her care in 2021. The placement was initially as a friends and family carer. The court subsequently made a full care order, which was discharged in 2023 when Miss X obtained a special guardianship order.
6. Miss X complains about the actions of social workers involved in the child’s care. She says they made false and disrespectful statements, failed to explain their actions and failed to file court papers on time. In addition, she says they breached a third party’s confidentiality. She says that, as a result of the actions of social workers, she was caused distress and uncertainty and the process was unnecessarily delayed.
7. The evidence indicates that Miss X made a formal complaint to the Council in 2021, which the Council has addressed under the statutory procedure for complaints about social services. The matter was not concluded until 2024.
8. The documents show that Miss X’s complaint has been upheld in part. However, the findings on several parts of the complaint were inconclusive, despite interviews with the parties and an examination of the Council’s records.
9. The Council has accepted the findings and recommendations at Stage 2 and Stage 3 of the process. It has apologised and offered a symbolic payment in recognition of the fault identified and for the delay in addressing the complaint. Miss X does not accept the outcome. She wants the Council to take responsibility for its failures and provide more significant financial compensation.
10. The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The statutory children’s complaints procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns. Because of this, if a council has investigated something under the process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it, unless there is evidence of flaws in the process which call the findings into question.
11. Apart from delay, which the Council accepts, there is no evidence of fault in the way Miss X’s complaint was investigated. The findings are reasonable and defensible in the circumstances. That being the case, there are no grounds for the Ombudsman to intervene to re-investigate. We would add nothing significant by doing so.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we would not add anything significant to the investigation the Council has carried out.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman