Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to remove children from her care. The law prevents us from investigating anything that has been the subject of court proceedings. We also could not add to the Council’s investigation and responses under all three stages of the statutory complaints process.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the way in which the Council removed her younger children from her care from early January to the end of May 2023. Miss X says there was no evidence to support the Council’s action. Miss X also complains about how the Council treated her and her family following disclosures of abuse by another relative from some of her children. She says this has caused significant distress to her and her 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 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, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. 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 statutory children’s complaint process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it.
7. However, we may look at whether there were any flaws in the stage two investigation or stage three review panel that could call the findings into question.
8. The Council concluded its consideration of Miss X’s complaints under stage three of the statutory complaint process in November 2024. This included the complaint elements summarised in paragraph 1 above and other issues.
9. The Stage Three Review Panel agreed with the decision not to uphold one element of Miss X’s complaints at stage 2. This related to Miss X’s belief the Council’s action to remove her younger children from her care was incorrect and not evidence based. The Review Panel noted the decision to temporarily remove Miss X’s children had ultimately been taken by the court. The statutory complaint procedure is unable to consider matters that have been the subject of court proceedings. The law also prevents us from investigating anything that has been the subject of court proceedings.
10. The stage two investigation and stage three Review Panel both found the Council’s communication and record keeping in Miss X’s case could have been better. This included making clear recording of a safeguarding referral and communication with Miss X about the implications of agreeing for her younger children to be voluntarily placed in the Council’s care under section 20 of the Children Act 1989. The Panel recommended the Council took steps to improve. The Council issued apologies to Miss X for its poor communication and record keeping in its stage two and three complaint responses.
11. The Council has responded to Miss X’s complaints in detail and upheld it in part. It has accepted the stage three Panel’s recommendations to improve its service in future. We will not normally investigate a complaint which has already been through all stages of the statutory process. It is not a good use of public money to do so. In this case, the question for us is whether our intervention would add anything to the investigation the Council has already carried out. There is nothing to suggest that it would do so.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because further investigation could not add to the Council’s responses.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman