Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with her family. The complaint is late and we are unlikely to find evidence of fault even if we did investigate.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of a safeguarding referral for her children in early 2023. She alleges the Social Worker got the police to arrest her husband when they attended her family’s home. Mrs X’s husband was released by the police shortly afterwards. She says the incident caused significant distress to the whole family. She wants the Council to apologise and review its handling of her family’s case.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the police. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should make a referral to children’s social care and should do so immediately if the child is suffering significant harm or is likely to do so.
8. Under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, councils have a duty to make enquiries as considered 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.
9. When a council has concerns about a child, the law requires it to take action to find out more. It only has to have ‘reasonable cause to suspect’. This is a lower burden of proof than that used by the Police or the Courts who require evidence ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.
10. One of Mrs X’s children was receiving support from a counsellor. The counsellor made a safeguarding referral to the Council following the child’s disclosure of physical abuse by their father on one of their siblings. The Council initiated enquiries and attended Mrs X’s family home with the police in early 2023. The police decided to arrest Mrs X’s husband as a result of its enquiries while attending. Mrs X’s husband was later released and the police took no further action. The Council decided to place Mrs X’s children on child protection plans.
11. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Mrs X has been aware of these issues since early 2023. It is too late for her to bring these complaints to us now.
12. We can exercise discretion to consider late complaints if there is good reason to do so. I have not asked whether there is a good reason in this case, because even if we investigated it is unlikely we would find fault with the Council’s actions. This is because the Council had a legal duty to act on the safeguarding referral it received. Any action the police took is not a matter within our jurisdiction to investigate.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late and we are unlikely to find evidence of fault even if we exercised discretion to investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman