Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about a social worker not contacting her for over a year about her son who is in the Council’s care. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains her son’s social worker has not spoken to her for over a year about her son, who is in the Council’s care. Miss X says the social worker’s relationship with her is frosty after the social worker lied about her in court.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• 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

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X complained to the Council that a social worker had not contacted her for over a year in relation to her son who is in the Council’s care.
7. In response, the Council explained it had invited Miss X to her son’s Looked After Child Review in 2023, but Miss X had said she did not want to attend. The last email Miss X had responded to about her son was in late 2023. The social worker contacted Miss X in April 2024 about her son but Miss X did not reply. It explained it did not have Miss X’s current address nor her current email address.
8. Further to this, the Council explained that her son was safe and well but had told the Council he did not want any information about him to be shared with Miss X. He also does not want to maintain family time. It explained that it gives Miss X’s son the opportunity to reconsider his position on this at each statutory visit.
9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council here to warrant an investigation and it is unlikely we could add to the response the Council has already provided via its own investigation of the matter, as set out above. Further to this, we could not achieve the outcomes Miss X seeks in complaining to this office as her son has not consented to information being shared with her.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation into this matter and we could not add to the response the Council has already provided.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman