Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions during its involvement with the complainant’s family. Our intervention would not add anything to the investigation the Council has already carried out, or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains that the Council failed to recognise and support her as a victim of domestic abuse, acted with gender bias and failed to respond appropriately to her complaint.

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

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My assessment

5. Ms X’s complaint concerns the period between October 2020 and July 2022, during which her children were the subject of a child protection enquiry and child in need plans. She has made detailed complaints about the actions of several children’s services officers. Ms X alleges that officers failed to recognise that she was a victim of domestic abuse and coercive control and acted with gender bias in favour of the children’s father. She asserts that this failure on officers’ part prevented her from safeguarding her children.
6. The Council used its discretion to accept the complaint despite the passage of time, and considered it under Stages 2 and 3 of the statutory process for children’s services complaints. Despite some finding of fault, the complaint was not substantially upheld at Stage 2. The Council accepted the Stage 2 findings, made apologies where appropriate and agreed to add a record of Ms X’s dissenting views to its file. The Review Panel subsequently upheld the Stage 2 findings.
7. Ms X does not accept the outcome of the complaint process. She says the process was misleading and unfair and the Council unreasonably refused her request for the recording of meetings.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because it has completed the statutory children’s services complaint procedure and there is no evidence of significant fault in the way it did so.
9. The statutory children’s complaint procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns. Because of this, if a council has investigated something under the statutory procedure, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it. That is the case here.
10. The Stage 2 Investigating Officer’s report properly addressed the agreed statement of complaint and made proportionate and defensible findings. Ms X disagrees with most of these findings, but that does not mean they are flawed. She used her right to escalate the matter to the Review Panel. The report of the Review Panel’s meeting shows that Ms X was able to make representations and the Panel properly considered the matters before it. The outcome was a matter for the Panel members’ professional judgment.
11. Without evidence of fault in the complaint process which calls the outcome into question it is not for the Ombudsman to reconsider the outcome, or intervene to substitute an alternative view. Investigation would not lead to a different outcome and is not therefore warranted.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because our intervention would not add to the investigation which has already been carried out or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman