Summary: Miss X, who is disabled, complained the Council failed to put in place reasonable adjustments to enable her to fully engage in a child protection investigation. Miss X also complained the Council failed to carry out the investigation in line with the relevant law and guidance. I ended this investigation as Miss X has exercised her right to take some of the matters to court. There is not enough evidence of fault and other agencies are better placed to investigate the remaining parts of the complaint.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to:
• put in place reasonable adjustments for her to be able to fully engage in a child protection investigation; and
• to carry out the investigation in line with the relevant law and guidance.
2. Miss X said she would like us to investigate whether the Council carried out the investigation lawfully.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or

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

4. The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
5. The Ombudsman cannot investigate whether social workers are meeting their professional standards of conduct. Complaints of this nature should be referred to the social workers’ professional body, Social Work England.
6. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

S47 enquiries (child protection investigation)

9. Anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should make a referral to children’s social care and should do so immediately if there is a concern that the child is suffering significant harm or is likely to do so.
10. The council should make initial enquiries of agencies involved with the child and family, for example, health visitor, GP, schools and nurseries. The information gathering at this stage enables the council to assess the nature and level of any harm the child may be facing. The assessment may result in:

• no further action;
• a decision to carry out a more detailed assessment of the child’s needs; or
• a decision to convene a strategy meeting.

11. Section 47 of the Act places a duty on agencies, but mainly the council and the police, to make “such enquiries as they consider necessary to enable them to decide whether to take action to safeguard or promote the welfare of a child in their area”.
12. If the information gathered under section 47 supports concerns and the child may remain at risk of significant harm the social worker will arrange an initial child protection conference (ICPC). The ICPC decides what action is needed to safeguard the child. This might include making the child a ‘child in need’ (CiN) and implementing a safety plan.
13. The Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance says ‘Where children may be experiencing extra-familial harm, children’s social care assessments should determine whether a child is in need under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 or whether to make enquires under section 47 of the same Act, following concerns that the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. A good assessment should understand the risk of extra-familial harm for siblings, for example, where older children are exploited, younger siblings may also be at risk of being targeted’.

What happened

14. Miss X has a child Y. A safeguarding referral was made to the Council in September 2024 following allegations of abuse Y was experiencing by staff at their school.
15. The Council carried out section 47 enquiries, also known as a child protection investigation. This explored the incidents at school as well as Miss X’s parenting. The outcome was for the Council to hold an Initial Child Protection Conference (ICPC) to decide how best to protect the children.
16. Miss X is disabled and requested the Council arrange an advocate to support her at the ICPC. The Council refused to do this.
17. Miss X made a complaint to the Council that it failed to put in place reasonable adjustments for her to be able to fully engage in a child protection investigation. She said it also failed to carry out the investigation in line with the relevant law and guidance. Her complaint included that the social work assessments contained inaccurate and untrue information, her youngest child was included unnecessarily in the ICPC, there were issues with data handling, the Council failed to put in place intervention to support Y and the investigation wrongly focussed on her parenting.
18. The Council would not respond to the complaint as Miss X also exercised her right to take the matter to court. The grounds for her claim were about the Council’s failure to consider Miss X’s disabilities and its failure to make reasonable adjustments throughout the child protection investigation. Miss X said she filed a claim with the court but then she decided to bring the matter to us instead.
19. Miss X also has a separate application for judicial review in relation to Y’s Education. Miss X has said in the application that Y’s school placement broke down due to the lack of support and intervention the Council put in place to support Y.
20. Miss X also has an on-going investigation with the ICO about the Council’s data handling. Miss X told the ICO the social work assessments contained unsubstantiated, incorrect allegations. She also said the assessments were shared without her consent.

My findings

Reasonable adjustments

21. Miss X complained the Council failed to consider her disabilities or the provision of reasonable adjustments during the child protection investigation. She said she filed a claim with the court but she then decided to not take the matter further. The Ombudsman has decided in these cases, we cannot exercise discretion to investigate these complaints even if the application is rejected or withdrawn before the hearing in line with paragraph four. Therefore, I cannot investigate this part of the complaint.

Inaccurate social work assessments

22. Miss X says the social work assessments contain factual errors and were shared without her consent. Miss X has an on-going investigation with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about the Council’s data handling, so I have not investigated this part of the complaint. The ICO is best placed to consider complaints about a public authorities’ failure to follow data protection legislation.
23. If Miss X remains concerned about the social worker’s conduct or her treatment of Miss X then she can refer the matter to Social Work England. This is the most suitable body to consider this complaint. The Ombudsman cannot investigate whether social workers are meeting their professional standards of conduct. Complaints of this nature should be referred to the social workers’ professional body, Social Work England.

Lack of therapeutic intervention

24. Miss X said the Council failed to put in place therapeutic intervention for Y following the safeguarding referral. This has been included as one of the grounds for Miss X’s judicial review application relating to Y’s education. As Miss X has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in a court of law, I cannot investigate this.

ICPC

25. Miss X complained the Council unnecessarily involved her younger child in the ICPC. The statutory guidance says siblings should be considered as part of the investigation and ICPC where a child may be experiencing extra-familial harm. Therefore, I have not investigated this part of the complaint as there is not enough of fault to justify investigating.
26. Miss X also complained the Council’s investigation included concerns around her parenting. While Miss X disagrees there was a need to investigate this, the Council had a duty to act on its concerns. Therefore, I have not investigated this part of the complaint as it is unlikely further investigation would find fault for the Council acting on those concerns.

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Decision

27. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because she took judicial review and other court proceedings for part of the complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault and other agencies are better placed to investigate the remaining parts of the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman