Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council’s children’s services dealt with child protection matters. This is because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about how the Council dealt with child protection matters concerning her children. Mrs X says false accusations were made about her that have caused her distress. She feels a higher level of compensation should be offered.

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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 could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (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 and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. At stage two, councils appoint an investigating officer (IO) to look into the complaint and an independent person (IP) who is responsible for overseeing the investigation and ensuring its independence. At stage three, complainants can ask for a review by an independent panel
6. The Council considered Mrs X’s complaint through the children’s statutory complaints procedure. At stage two, the Council appointed an IO and IP. Mrs X chose not to take part in the stage two investigation but her complaint points were considered, case records were reviewed and relevant staff interviewed. They partially upheld parts of the complaint and recommended the Council apologise to Mrs X and make service improvements.
7. Mrs X asked the Council to escalate the complaint to stage three. Mrs X attended the panel meeting where her complaint was discussed and considered. The stage three panel agreed with the findings of it IO’s investigation. In its final response the Council also offered to make a payment to Mrs X of £250 to remedy the distress caused to her by the faults identified.
8. Although Mrs X is unhappy with the outcomes of the Council’s investigation, we will not investigate her complaint. Where a council has investigated something under the statutory children’s complaint process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate, unless there were any flaws that could call the findings into question. There is no evidence of fault in the Council’s consideration of the complaint, therefore, further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman