Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (24 014 598)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Dec 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X complaint about a deprivation of liberty application the Council made. This is because the law prevents us from investigating the start of court action. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council delayed making the application, because investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that the Council made the wrong application to court when it applied for deprivation of his son’s liberties. Mr X also says the Council delayed making the application.
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))
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s Deprivation of Liberties Safeguards (DOLS) application to court because the law prevents us from investigating the start of court action.
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council delayed making the application. The courts granted the DOLS order but instructed the Council to make an application to the Court of Protection. Further investigation into this point is unlikely to achieve a different outcome. This is because we could not say the outcome would have been different had the Council made its application sooner.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating the start of court action and further investigation into delay would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman