Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about child protection action. The complaint has already been substantially upheld and investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a significantly different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains that the Council was at fault in the course of child protection action relating to her child.

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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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X’s child was the subject of child protection action. During the action, Ms X’s child was removed from her care and an enquiry was carried out under section 47 of the Children Act 1989. Ms X says the Council’s actions were unjustified and caused her significant distress. Specifically, she says there were no grounds to remove her child, and the social worker was at fault in transporting him without a car seat.
6. The correspondence Ms X has provided shows that the Council has substantially upheld her complaint about errors in the section 47 report, the way social workers communicated with her and the specific issue with the car seat. It has offered to make alterations to the content of the report to reflect Ms X’s views, apologised for the fault on its part and offered a payment of £600. Ms X does not feel this reflects the impact of the fault on her family.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. We cannot express a view on the decision to remove her child from her care, which was a matter for the professional judgement of the social workers. The rest of the complaint has already been substantially upheld by the Council. It is not a good use of our resources to investigate complaints which have already been upheld and we will not do so here.
8. The Council has demonstrated that it took account of the Ombudsman’s published guidance when offering the £600 payment. This appears to be a proportionate remedy for the fault identified. Investigation would not lead to a significantly different outcome and is not therefore warranted.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because investigation would not achieve anything significant.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman