Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s children’s services. Parts of the complaint are late and there is no good reason to investigate them now. Other matters were considered, or could have been considered, during Court proceedings. Concerns about the conduct of the Council’s social workers are better considered by Social Work England.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the conduct of the Council’s children’s services. In particular, she complains about:
• allegations of verbal abuse and misconduct by its social workers;
• lack of support and exclusion from decision-making;
• the accuracy of assessments and records made by professionals; and
• the Council’s mishandling of care proceedings.
2. Mrs X says the matters complained about caused her family to separate, led to damage to her home, and meant the family had to move for their safety. She also says the events have caused ongoing anxiety and depression.
3. Mrs X wants the social workers involved to be investigated. She also wants the Council to acknowledge and explain its failings and apologise.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. 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
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
8. We also may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
10. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. Many of the matters Mrs X complains about are late because they happened more than 12 months before she complained to us. I have seen no good reason why the complaint could not have been brought earlier, so I will not investigate those matters now. It is not our role to carry out a broad review of the Council’s overall involvement with a family over several years.
12. In relation to those matters which are not late, Mrs X’s concerns about care arrangements and parental responsibility were considered, or could have been considered, in Court. Mrs X also had the opportunity to challenge any assessments or statements made by professionals during those proceedings. We cannot say whether the evidence relied on during proceedings affected the court outcome. Therefore, I will also not investigate this aspect of her complaint.
13. In relation to Mrs X’s concerns about the conduct of the Council’s social workers, the Council’s complaint response explained it was unable to contact the relevant social workers because they no longer worked for the Council or were unavailable. However, the Council said its records did not show evidence of misconduct or abusive behaviour. It is unlikely further investigation by us would add to the Council’s consideration of this matter. In any event, concerns about the professional conduct of social workers are better considered by Social Work England, the regulator responsible for social workers in England.
14. Mrs X says her home was damaged and that the family had to move. However, the alleged damage to her property was not caused by an administrative action of the Council that we can investigate. If Mrs X believes another party is legally responsible for damage to her property, this is a matter better considered by the courts.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because parts of it are late and some matters were considered or could have been considered in Court. Mrs X concerns about the conduct of social workers are better considered by Social Work England and her concerns about property damage are matters for the courts.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman