Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the conduct of social workers involved with his family. We cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks and Social Work England is better placed to consider his complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the conduct of social workers involved with his family. Mr X also complained the Council refused to consider his complaint about this issue.
2. Mr X said the social workers caused him to feel intimidated.

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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:

• 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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained about the conduct of social workers involved with his family. Mr X said they had intimidated him during visits, and this affected his mental health.
7. Mr X’s desired outcome is for the Ombudsman to investigate the conduct of the social workers.
8. The Council said it would not consider Mr X’s complaint and provided Mr X with its reasons for this decision.
9. We look at organisational fault, not individual professional competence. This means we cannot investigate the conduct of individual Council officers and therefore we cannot achieve the outcome sought by Mr X here.
10. In any case, Social Work England (SWE) is better placed to consider Mr X’s concerns. SWE is the professional regulator of social workers and was set up to consider concerns about individual social workers’ fitness to practice.
11. For the reasons outlined in paragraphs nine and ten, we will not investigate this complaint.
12. As we will not investigate the substantive matters of the complaint, we will not investigate the Council’s handling of the complaint because it is not proportionate to do so.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks and Social Work England is better placed to consider it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman