Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (24 013 568)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 Dec 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the contents of an assessment. This is because the Council intends to seek Mr X’s views and add them to the case file. Therefore further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that an assessment was amended to include inaccurate information, and that he hasn’t been given the opportunity to challenge the information through the complaints process.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council completed an assessment but this was later amended to include information which Mr X says is inaccurate. Since raising his complaint with the Council, private proceedings have commenced in the family court and the Council has been asked to submit a Section 7 report as art of those proceedings. The Council says it will obtain Mr X’s views before completing its Section 7 report, and will also include those views in a document to be added to the case file.
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. We cannot instruct Council’s to amend records so even if we were to investigate and find fault in this case the most we could achieve is to recommend a note being added to the casefile outlining Mr X’s views. As this is what the Council intends to do, investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because doing so would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman