Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about actions the Council took after receiving a referral about Miss X’s family. There is not enough evidence of fault to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about actions the Council took around safeguarding her child (Y), and advice it gave her after it received a referral about her family.
2. Miss X said the matters have caused a negative impact to her mental health and caused a financial difficulty.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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. (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 the Council did not act appropriately relating to matters including safeguarding actions. She also said it gave her poor advice after receiving a referral about her family. This advice, she said, was to take legal advice about a child arrangement order, which she says caused her to incur legal costs.
7. The Council provided evidence of the actions its social worker took after receiving a referral about Y. This included records of the contact it had with other statutory bodies, to gather information to support its decision-making.
8. The Council decided it did not meet the threshold for statutory intervention. The evidence shows it considered information about the referral, about Y and about Y’s parents, including Miss X. A manager agreed with the decision-making. There is not enough evidence of fault in how it arrived at a decision to close its involvement with Y, and we will not investigate.
9. Nor do I see there is enough evidence of fault in the Council’s advice to Miss X about her options for care arrangements. Therefore, we will not investigate this part of her complaint.
10. Furthermore, we will not consider the Council’s decision to decline Miss X’s request to escalate her complaint to stage two. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we decide not to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman