Summary: We have decided not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a lack of social care for his child, Y, and a failure to properly consider his request for direct payments. The Council has accepted some fault and will investigate further using the statutory children’s complaints process.

The complaint

1. Mr X raised a number of complaints about the support the Council provided for him and his child, Y, who has complex needs. He complained about an incident in September 2022 where Y was caused harm during a contact visit with her mother, and which he was not told about at the time. He also complained about threats of child protection, frequent changes of social workers and about the way the Council handled court action.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. 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, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

6. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Poor care

9. Mr X complained that poor care by a care provider commissioned by the Council led to Y suffering harm during a contact visit in September 2022, which meant she was in hospital for a month. He said he was not told about the incident, which hampered the hospital’s efforts to treat Y.
10. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events complained about. I note Mr X complained to us in 2021 so he was aware he could do so and am satisfied he could have complained to us within 12 months about this incident. In any case, it is unlikely we could achieve a worthwhile outcome, given the lapse of time since the incident. Therefore, I will not consider this complaint further.

Safeguarding

11. In January 2024, there was a safeguarding issue in relation to one of Y’s care workers. The care provider took appropriate action to address that issue, but unfortunately this left too few staff to deliver the contract, so it gave notice to end it. Mr X said he had raised concerns about training new care workers in 2022 and early 2023, but there were difficulties in doing so because Mr X had to provide training in how to manage Y’s needs and behaviour, which impacted on his ability to get respite, and because of high levels of staff turnover. Although this caused worry and stress for Mr X, there is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council acted to warrant further investigation now. In any case, much of this occurred more than 12 months ago and it is unlikely we would be able to achieve a worthwhile outcome given the lapse of time.

Court action

12. Mr X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to ongoing private family law proceedings. We cannot investigate what happened in court. This includes the information the Council shared with the court in its reports, and the information shared during court hearings. Therefore, we cannot consider those parts of Mr X's complaint.

Social care

13. Mr X complained about a lack of social care for Y since early 2023. If we investigated this complaint, it is likely we would find fault with the Council for not investigating using the children’s statutory complaints process. The Council has accepted it should have done so and has agreed to investigate the complaint further using that process and starting at stage 2. It will start the process within one month of the date of this decision.

Direct payments

14. In October 2022, Mr X asked the Council for direct payments so he could arrange care for Y, but was told in November 2022, that he could not use direct payments for this due to a lack of clinical oversight. The Council repeated that advice in its complaint response in May 2024, but now accepts the advice was wrong. The Council is taking steps to consider the request.
15. If we investigated this complaint, it is likely we would find fault for the failure to properly consider the request from October 2022, which has caused an injustice because Mr X has been left without respite due to a lack of support for Y. The Council has agreed to investigate this complaint further, alongside the complaint about a lack of social care, and consider an appropriate remedy for any injustice caused.

Housing

16. Mr X also complained about a lack of support from the Council’s housing team to assist him to move to more suitable housing. The housing team responded to his complaint in July 2023. It explained that the housing band was changed on review and higher priority awarded, but with the same effective date. Any complaint about the Council’s assessment in September 2022 is late.
17. The Council subsequently considered further evidence Mr X provided, at which point it increased the priority further, changed the bedroom need, and changed the effective date to September 2022. By 2023 it had made two offers of housing, which Mr X had refused because he did not agree they were suitable. These complaints are also late. I am satisfied Mr X could have complained to us earlier and there are no good reasons to investigate now.
18. Mr X also complained that a technical issue meant he was not able to bid for housing. This complaint has not yet been considered by the Council using its complaints process. It is appropriate for Mr X to make a fresh complaint about this if he wants to pursue this, although I understand he has since been rehoused.

EHC plan

19. Mr X also complained the Council had not ensure the support in Y’s Education Health and Care Plan had been delivered, which led to her school placement failing. In its complaint response in May 2024, the Council asked him to explain what support had not been delivered, but it says he did not do so. It is appropriate for the Council to have the opportunity to respond through its complaints process before we become involved.

Complaints handling

20. Mr X said the Council had refused to accept complaints from him, which caused a delay in him complaining to us. We asked him to provide evidence to support his claim, but he has not done so. The Council told us it had declined to accept some complaints because they related to historical issues or issues it had responded to before or complaints about court action. It said on all occasions it had explained its reasons for not investigating and signposted to us. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify further investigation. In any case, we would not usually investigate complaints handling unless we are also investigating the underlying matter complained about.

Discrimination

21. Mr X says he feels he has been discriminated against because he is a male carer and would be treated differently if he was a sole female carer. He says the Council has repeatedly made child protection enquiries because it is concerned about the level of care he is providing for Y.
22. The Council is under a duty to make enquiries where it has reason to suspect that a child in their area is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm. This may be as a result of reports by other relatives or third parties or by other professionals. As a result of those enquiries, it may decide no further action is needed, but this does not mean it was at fault for deciding enquiries are needed.
23. We will not consider this complaint further because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

24. We have upheld the complaints about a lack of social care and a failure to properly consider a request for direct payments. The Council has agreed to carry out further investigation into those complaints using the statutory children’s complaints process and consider an appropriate remedy for any injustice caused. Other complaints are late, or relate to court action, or there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement, or have not yet exhausted the Council’s complaints process.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman