Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains on behalf of his relative, Mr Y, about the social worker allocated to Mr Y’s childrens’ case in the Council’s child protection involvement with his family. Mr X says the social worker’s assessment report is biased against Mr Y which puts his children at additional risk of harm and could impact ongoing court proceedings.

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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)
3. We do not start or continue 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 the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council has told Mr X it will not consider his complaint via its complaints procedure due to the ongoing court proceedings.
7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing proceedings. This is a decision it is entitled to make. It has been made in line with the statutory guidance for local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints where there are ongoing proceedings. This gives the Council discretion to decide not to investigate where there are ongoing proceedings, including court proceedings. This is to ensure the proceedings, which must take precedence over a complaint investigation, are not at risk of being prejudiced by a concurrent investigation. The Council’s website sets out the circumstances under which its complaints process will not apply. This includes: where matters are already subject to legal proceedings.
8. It will be open to Mr X to resubmit his complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded. The Council can then decide whether there are any residual matters which were not, and could not have been, raised in the proceedings that it can consider via its complaints procedure.
9. Should Mr X wish to complain about the professional conduct of the social worker he can make a complaint to the regulatory body, Social Work England.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman