Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of a social worker and the Council’s refusal to change the social worker. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to warrant our further involvement.

The complaint

1. Miss X said a social worker failed to deal with her properly during a child protection matter. She said the social worker gave too little notice of visits, forced her to agree inconvenient times, and visited at little or no notice, trying to push past her partner after she had missed a message about a visit. She says the social worker failed to explain what an initial child protection conference is, did not make adjustments for her partner’s condition, and was critical of her. She said the Council should have changed the social worker.

Back to top

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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. Where an authority with child protection duties has reason to believe a child may be at risk of significant harm, those duties take precedence over other considerations such as parental needs. Unannounced visits to see a child in the family home are normal practice, and social workers can decide parental objections to access at requested times are matters of further concern. For these reasons, it is unlikely that investigation by us would lead to a finding of fault, or a conclusion that the Council should have changed the social worker.
6. While we would expect a social worker to answer an enquiry about the nature and implications of an initial child protection conference, this information is widely available, so any potential injustice to Miss X from this matter alone would not be enough to warrant our further involvement.

Back to top

Final decision

7. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault or injustice to Miss X caused by fault to warrant our further involvement.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman