Summary: Ms X and Mr Y complained about the actions of the Council when it investigated allegations made against Mr Y by a child. We have discontinued the investigation. This is because we cannot achieve the outcomes Ms X and Mr Y are seeking.

The complaint

1. Ms X and Mr Y complain about the actions of the Council during a Section 47 enquiry and pre-birth assessment carried out after Ms X’s child made allegations about Mr Y. They say the Council’s actions caused unnecessary distress to them both.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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.
3. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) considers complaints about freedom of information and data protection. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). The ICO has powers to order rectification of records that we do not.
4. 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.

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

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Ms X, Mr Y and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Ms X, Mr Y 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

Law and guidance

7. Under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, where a council has reasonable cause to suspect that a child in their area is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm, it has a duty to make such enquiries as it considers necessary to decide whether to take any action to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare. Such enquiries should be initiated where there are concerns about abuse or neglect.
8. 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.
9. 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.

What happened

10. The following information is relevant to the reasons I have discontinued the investigation. It is not a list of everything that happened.
11. Ms X’s child made an allegation about Mr Y. This was passed to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) to consider. MASH provides a single point of access to the services that help keep children safe. It is a multi-agency team made up of representatives from a range of services that provide advice, support and protection as needed. These services include children’s social care, police, health services, child and adolescent mental health services, early help, housing, probation, substance misuse and victim support.
12. MASH decided a social worker and the police should immediately investigate the matter. The police arrested Mr Y and imposed bail conditions onto him due to this. The Council carried out a section 47 investigation. It gathered evidence from various parties, as it should have done. This included information from Ms X and Mr Y.
13. The Council completed a social work assessment on Ms X’s child and closed it with no further action to be taken. Ms X was expecting a baby with Mr Y, so the Council carried out a social work assessment for the unborn child. As a result, the Council decided it needed to carry out a pre-birth assessment for the unborn child. This would be a more detailed assessment on Ms X and Mr Y’s ability to meet the needs of a baby.
14. Ms X and Mr Y disagreed with the social work assessment on them and raised concerns about the social worker who completed the assessment. The Council confirmed it uploaded Ms X and Mr Y’s concerns on to the case recording system. This meant anyone reading the case recording system would have a clear account of their views regarding the matter.
15. The Council completed the pre-birth assessment and social workers visited Ms X and Mr Y to discuss it. Ms X and Mr Y then withdrew their consent to the assessment. The Council closed the assessment on Ms X’s unborn child.
16. Ms X’s child later retracted their complaint about Mr Y. Ms X and Mr Y complained to the Council about the impact and upset caused by the actions of the police and social care. This was especially as Ms X was expecting a baby. The Council acknowledged Ms X and Mr Y’s upset but explained the allegations made against Mr Y were significant and it needed to investigate the concerns raised. It said all professionals involved agreed with the actions taken in this case which were based on careful consideration of the information available at the time.
17. The Council told Ms X and Mr Y they could submit further comments to be recorded on the case recording system about the assessments that were completed.
18. Ms X and Mr Y remained unhappy with the Council’s actions and responses to their concerns and complained to us. They are unhappy with the actions of a social worker, they consider the social worker assessments were incorrect, and the Council was wrong to keep contacting them about their unborn child which caused them considerable distress.

My Findings

19. I acknowledge Ms X and Mr Y’s distress over the Council’s investigations into the allegations made against Mr Y and concerns over their unborn child. However, the Council was obliged to make an assessment of risk when it received such allegations. The evidence provided shows the Council carried out section 47 enquiries as required and gathered information from various parties as it is required to do.
20. While Ms and Mr Y may disagree with the conclusions drawn by the Council about risk it would not be for us to comment on the disputed contents of the assessments where this reflects the professional judgement of Council Officers. So, we could not achieve anything significant for Ms X and Mr Y through further investigation. The most we would normally seek where the accuracy is disputed is for a record of a complainant’s dissenting views to be added to the file. Ms X and Mr Y’s views are set out in the case recording system and the Council has invited them to submit further comments if they wish. So, this has already been achieved.
21. If Ms X and Mr Y believe the assessments contains false information about them, they may wish to pursue their right to rectification under General Data Protection Regulations. It is open to them to approach the Information Commissioner’s Office, which is better placed than us to consider such matters.
22. Ms X and Mr Y have raised concerns about a social worker. Our role is to investigate the Council’s actions as a corporate body, rather than to investigate an individual. If Ms X and Mr Y have concerns about the professionalism or conduct of an individual social worker, they can report their concerns to the professional body, Social Work England. Ms X and Mr Y have expressed a wish for the Council to take action against individual employees involved. We would not be able to achieve this outcome as any disciplinary actions between the Council and its employees are outside our jurisdiction.

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Decision

23. I have discontinued the investigation. This is because we cannot achieve the outcomes Ms X and Mr Y want.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman