Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a social worker’s conduct and the Council’s delay in handling his complaint. This is because further investigation would not add to the one carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about a social worker’s conduct during a handover of his daughter to her mother. He alleges the situation was poorly managed and has expressed safeguarding concerns about the impact on his daughter’s wellbeing.
2. Mr X also complains about how the Council handled his complaint and a delay in responding to his subject access request.

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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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. In October 2024, a social worker attended a handover of Mr. X’s daughter, following a Court-ordered contact plan. Mr X says his daughter became very upset and did not want to go to her mother’s home. He also says the social worker waited too long to contact her manager before deciding that the child would stay with him.
7. The Council investigated Mr X’s complaint. It found that, although the situation could have been handled better, the social worker did not act in the way described by Mr X. Because no one else witnessed the event, the Council based its findings on the accounts of those involved and the written records.
8. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. Without independent witnesses it is not possible to say with any certainty exactly what was said or what happened during the handover of Mr X’s daughter. For this reason, we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council.
9. If Mr X wants to take his concerns about the social worker’s conduct further, he should contact Social Work England, the regulator for social workers. For concerns about how the Council dealt with his subject access request, he should contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.
10. Mr X also complained about delays in how the Council handled his complaint and about delays in responding to his subject access request. The Council apologised for the delays in handling his complaint and offered a financial remedy. Further investigation into this element of his complaint would not lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because further investigation would not add to the one carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman