Cheshire West & Chester Council (25 016 798)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement with Ms X’s family. This is because Social Work England is better placed to consider Ms X’s complaint and we cannot achieve the outcome she seeks.
The complaint
- Ms X complained the Council dismissed her concerns about a social worker. She said this has caused her and her family stress and her children do not know who to trust. She would like the Council to suspend the social worker and investigate their actions.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
- there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X said a social worker involved with her family acted unprofessionally and the Council dismissed her concerns about the matter.
- In response to enquiries, the Council said it had offered to meet with Ms X to discuss her concerns.
- The Ombudsman cannot investigate whether social workers are meeting their professional standards of conduct. Complaints of this nature should be referred to the social workers’ professional body, Social Work England (SWE).
- We could not achieve the outcome Ms X seeks if we investigated her complaint. We cannot make recommendations relating to suspension of social workers. It is open to Ms X to contact SWE as the regulator for social workers.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because Social Work England are better placed to consider a social worker’s professionalism, and we cannot achieve the outcome she seeks.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman