Summary: We will not investigate Mr & Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with child protection enquiries. This is because doing so would not add to the investigation carried out by the Council, or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr & Mrs X complains about the actions of the Council’s children’s services after it commenced child protection enquiries in relation to their children. They want compensation for the impact on their family and for child protection records to be removed.

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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, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(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. Mr & Mrs X’s family were the subject of a child protection enquiry under section 47 of the Children Act 1989. They complain that procedures were not followed, and that inaccurate information and conclusions were included in the assessment which has caused significant distress to the family.
6. The Council partially upheld Mr & Mrs X’s complaints as it found that its assessment wasn’t shared 48 hours before a conference. The Council said it would be open to amending any inaccurate information held and asked Mr X to provide examples of inaccuracies. The Council said it could not amend professional judgements reached or information received from third parties, but did agree to add a record to the file outlining their views on the assessment.
7. I will not investigate Mr & Mrs X’s complaint. The Council has fully considered Mr & Mrs X’s complaints and where it has found fault has taken proportionate steps. We cannot recommend that councils remove child protection records. The most we would wish to see is for a note to be added to the file outlining Mr & Mrs X’s opposing views. This has been achieved. For these reasons we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr & Mrs X’s complaint because doing so would not add to the investigation carried out by the Council, or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman