Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement with Ms X and her family. This is because an investigation would not result in a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the treatment she and her partner received when the Council became involved with her family.

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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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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My assessment

5. Ms X and her partner complained about the Council’s safeguarding involvement with her family. She made several complaints including feeling bullied and harassed by a social worker.
6. The Council carried out a statutory children’s investigation and upheld some of Ms X’s complaint points. The Investigating Officer interviewed several Council employees who had been involved and compared Ms X’s case to similar cases in the Council’s history. The Council apologised for the upheld points and offered £1500 as a goodwill award to recognise the distress and inconvenience Ms X and her partner were put to.
7. Ms X and her partner remain unhappy with the Council’s actions and want it to investigate what happened again. The Ombudsman will not reinvestigate a statutory children’s complaint if the Council has already investigated it. It can only consider whether the Council carried out the investigation correctly. The evidence shows the Council carried out a robust and thorough investigation. The Investigating Officer provided detailed and clear rationale for the findings they made. The recommendations made for the upheld points were in line with what we would expect. An investigation would therefore not result a different outcome.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because an investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman