Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of child protection matters. This is because we have not seen enough evidence of fault with how the Council considered his complaint. We consider the remedies proposed by the Council to be satisfactory and an investigation by us would not add anything. We also cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council lied, did not take accountability and failed him and his family. He said the Council damaged his reputation and put his children and the public at risk.
2. He said some of the documents relating to his case are missing and that this is corruption.
3. Mr X also complained Council staff members aided and abetted in child neglect, failed at their jobs and should therefore be dismissed and prosecuted.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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
• 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

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

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My assessment

8. Mr X raised a range of concerns about the Council’s handling of his child protection case, but we have not seen enough evidence of fault with the Council’s handling of his complaint to justify a further investigation by us.
9. We also consider the Council’s stage three complaint response to be proportionate and provides reasonable remedies to Mr X’s concerns and an investigation by us would not add anything.
10. Mr X would like certain Council staff members to be dismissed and prosecuted but we are unable to achieve this outcome for him because we do not investigate complaints about personnel matters.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of fault with the Council’s handling of his complaint to justify an investigation. We consider the recommendations in the Council’s stage three response to be a satisfactory remedy to Mr X’s concerns, and we also cannot achieve the outcome he wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman