Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has not acted on the complainant’s concerns about the actions of a social worker. Investigation would not achieve the outcome she is seeking and is not therefore warranted.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains that the Council has not acted on her concerns about the actions of her son’s social worker.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Miss X complained to the Council about the actions of its social worker. She alleged that the social worker used racist language to a third party. She also says the social worker was at fault in contacting her former partner, who she describes as abusive and her estranged mother, and in making a hospital appointment for her son without her consent. She complains that the Council has not accepted that the social worker was at fault.
6. In response to Miss X’s complaint, the Council has set out that it believes its actions were reasonable and proportionate, given that a Meeting Before Action had been held. It says that, while it cannot verify the content of conversations, the social worker has denied using a racist term.
7. Miss X says the social worker’s actions have left her and her son feeling unsafe. In settlement of her complaint, she wants the Council to replace her son’s social worker.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because our intervention would not achieve the outcome she is seeking. We investigate complaints against councils as corporate bodies, not against individual members of staff. It is for the Council to decide how it allocates social workers to cases and we cannot intervene.
9. The Ombudsman cannot investigate whether social workers are meeting their professional standards of conduct. Complaints of this nature may be referred to the relevant professional body, Social Work England.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because investigation would not achieve the outcome she is seeking.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman