Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to progress Mrs X’s complaint through its complaint procedure. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision-making to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council refused to progress her complaint about its children’s services through its complaint procedure.
2. Mrs X said this caused her distress and uncertainty.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))
4. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mrs X complained to the Council about its children’s services involvement with her family.
8. The Council refused to progress the complaint through its complaint procedure because there were ongoing court proceedings, which are closely related to Mrs X’s substantive complaint.
9. The Council invited Mrs X to raise her complaint after the court proceedings ended.
10. Mrs X complained because she believed the Council could consider her complaint separately from the court proceedings.
11. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong.
12. The Council’s complaint procedure sets out it may refuse a complaint where the matters complained about are subject to legal proceedings.
13. The available evidence suggests the Council has acted in line with its policy here. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision-making here to warrant our involvement and so we will not investigate.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman