Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the actions of a social worker towards the complainant were unprofessional and amounted to bullying. Investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the actions of the Council’s social worker were unprofessional and amounted to bullying.

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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:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or

(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. Mrs X’s complaint relates to the period during which she was the carer for a family member. The child has now gone to live with her father following consideration of arrangements for her care in court.
6. Mrs X alleges that the Council’s social worker unnecessarily raised her voice during a meeting at her home and again during a telephone call. She also says that, during a further telephone conversation, the social worker blamed her for the likely outcome of the legal proceedings. In Mrs X’s view, the social worker’s actions were unprofessional and amount to bullying.
7. Mrs X further complains that the social worker’s contact with the child’s father involved sharing confidential information without her consent. She says she has reported this matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office. That is the appropriate body to consider the matter and there is no role for the Ombudsman.
8. In settlement of her complaint, Mrs X wants the social worker to be subject to disciplinary action and for the Council to apologise.
9. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because our intervention would not achieve anything significant. The correspondence shows that the Council considered her representations and spoke to the officers involved before reaching its conclusions. Those conclusions appear reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances of the case and there is no prospect that investigation by the Ombudsman would result in a significantly different outcome.
10. Even if we were to find the Council to have been at fault, we would not achieve what Mrs X wants. We have no power to recommend disciplinary action against individuals. Neither can we consider whether social workers are meeting their professional standards of conduct. Complaints of this nature should be referred to the social workers’ professional body, Social Work England.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because our intervention would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman