Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about a social worker as we are unlikely to find Council fault and Social Work England is better placed. We will not investigate a nurse report as the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed and it is reasonable to expect Miss X to tell a Court of her views.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council should change the children services social worker it gave to her family. She also says a nurse report was inaccurate.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
3. The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating; or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; 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

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

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My assessment

7. Miss X says the Council should change the social worker, Z, assigned to her family. She complained to the Council about this. The Council replied in May 2025. It said it had considered Miss X’s comments but decided not to remove Z. It is unlikely we would find fault in this decision. It is the Council’s right to choose which officer it assigns to each case.
8. If Miss X has concerns about the professionalism or integrity of an individual social worker, it is reasonable to expect her to report her concerns to their professional body, Social Work England.
9. Miss X complains about the content of a health nurse report. Miss X has the right to request records are ‘rectified’. This means any factual inaccuracies are corrected. If the Council refuses to do so, she can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Parliament set up the ICO to consider data protection disputes which includes ‘right to rectification’ disputes. The ICO are better placed than us to consider if the Council should change its records particularly because there are complex exemptions for child protection case files.
10. Since the report the Council applied to Court for a Supervision Order. If Miss X believes this report affects decisions about her children’s care it is reasonable to expect her to tell the Court.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision not to change social workers. The ICO is better placed to consider if a report is inaccurate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman