Summary: We will not investigate Ms M’s complaint about her dealings with the Council when she asked for help to care for her daughter in 2023 because there has already been an independent investigation and there is nothing more we could add.

The complaint

1. Ms M complained about her dealings with the Council in 2023 when she asked for help to care for her daughter, and later when she was discharged from hospital and did not return to the family home. Ms M is unhappy that her daughter was cared for by her father.

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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
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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 Ms M and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council considered Ms M’s complaint at all three stages of the Children Act complaints process. This is a formal procedure, set out in law, which councils must follow to investigate certain types of complaint. It involves:
• a written response from the Council (Stage 1);
• the appointment of an independent investigator to prepare a report (Stage 2); and, if the person making the complaint requests
• an independent panel to consider their representations (Stage 3).
6. The independent investigator produced a detailed report.
7. The independent investigator and the independent panel did not uphold Ms M’s complaints. I have considered their findings carefully.
8. We will not investigate Ms M’s complaints any further as there has already been an independent investigation. We could not add to what has already been said. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms M’s complaint because there has already been an independent investigation and there is nothing more we could add.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman