Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with safeguarding concerns about her children. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault with the Council’s decision not to investigate the complaint whilst the case is subject to ongoing court proceedings.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about how the Council dealt with safeguarding concerns raised about her children and that it refused to consider her complaints about these matters.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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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. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault with the Council’s decision not to consider Mrs X’s complaint whilst the case is being considered in ongoing court proceedings. This is to ensure the proceedings are not put at risk of being prejudiced by a concurrent investigation and is a decision the Council has discretion to make.
7. It will be open to Mrs X to resubmit her complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded. We will not consider the issues raised in Mrs X’s complaint until the Council has considered the complaint through its complaints procedure.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault with the Council’s decision not to investigate the complaint whilst the case is subject to ongoing court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman