Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council was at fault in the course of child protection action relating to the complainant’s son. This is because we would not achieve anything significant by doing so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains that the Council was at fault in the course of child protection action relating to her son.

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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 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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X’s son was the subject of child protection action. The evidence Ms X has provided shows that the Initial Child Protection Conference decided that a child protection plan was appropriate in June 2023, and that the plan ceased in December 2023 on the grounds that the child was no longer at risk of harm.
6. Ms X complains that the Council’s action was unfair and excessive. In her view, the Council’s intervention amounted to bullying, and she contends that the fact that she is a Council employee led to bias against her. She wants the opportunity to defend herself in a legal setting.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. We would be unlikely to criticise the decision to make a child protection plan and, in any case, the plan has now ceased, so our intervention would not achieve anything significant. We cannot provide Ms X with the legal setting she wants. Only the courts can do so.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we would not achieve anything significant by doing so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman