Dorset Council (19 003 802)

Category : Children's care services > Looked after children

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 14 Oct 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: The Ombudsman has discontinued his investigation of this complaint, about child safeguarding concerns. This is because an investigation would not achieve anything meaningful.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, to whom I will refer as Mr B, says the Council has failed to accept a complaint from him about its handling of safeguarding matters about his stepson’s daughter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’.
  2. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
  3. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
  4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I reviewed Mr B’s correspondence with the Council.
  2. I also shared a draft copy of this decision with each party for their comments.

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What I found

  1. Mr B submitted a complaint to the Council on 22 May 2019, about his stepson’s daughter, to whom I will refer as K.
  2. Mr B raised a number of concerns about K’s welfare. He said the Council had been involved in her life since birth, and that she was subject to care order made by the courts in 2016. Mr B said the Council had not acted in accordance with the care order.
  3. Mr B complained a social worker had failed to mention several incidents in a statement made to court in January 2019. He considered these incidents brought into question K’s welfare and her mother’s ability to supervise her. He also complained about the possibility of K being exposed to possible abuse by a member of her mother’s family, and by another child.
  4. The Council replied on 5 June. It explained it could not accept a complaint from Mr B, because he did not have parental responsibility (PR) for K. However, it said it had passed his concerns to the relevant team in the Council, and assured him it was working closely with K and her family.
  5. After a further email from Mr B, the Council reiterated it could not accept Mr B’s complaint because he did not have PR. It referred him instead to the Ombudsman.
  6. Mr B made a complaint to the Ombudsman on 6 June.
  7. On 29 July, the Council wrote to Mr B. It explained the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) had investigated his concern about the incident with the other child, and had obtained K’s mother assurance she would not have further contact with the child. The Council invited Mr B to contact it further if he believed K had had further contact with the other child.
  8. The Council also explained it shared his concerns about the member of K’s mother’s family, but said she did not have contact with this person and so there was no current risk. However, if this situation was likely to change, the Council would undertake an assessment.

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Analysis

  1. As the Council says, Mr B lacks PR for K. Unfortunately this limits his legal involvement in the matter, and the level of information to which he is privy.
  2. This fact would not actually prevent the Council from accepting a complaint (under its corporate procedure) from Mr B, and so arguably it could have done this. However, a formal complaint response from the Council would not give Mr B any more information than the Council has given him anyway.
  3. And an investigation by the Ombudsman is similarly unlikely to add anything to what the Council has told Mr B. The Ombudsman’s role here would be only to ensure the Council has taken Mr B’s concerns seriously – which I am satisfied it has. It is not for the Ombudsman to decide what action the Council should take on his concerns. The Ombudsman also could not provide further information to Mr B than the Council already has.
  4. In addition, a number of Mr B’s concerns relate to matters decided in court, or about information presented to court by a social worker. The Ombudsman is specifically barred in law from investigating such matters.
  5. I do not dismiss Mr B’s concerns about K. He is evidently worried about her welfare, and it is entirely appropriate he should raise his concerns with the Council. Unfortunately, the legal ramifications of his relationship with her limit the amount of information he can receive from the Council, and there is nothing the Ombudsman can do to change this.
  6. It may be more appropriate for Mr B’s stepson (K’s father) to pursue a complaint of this nature, as he does have PR for her.
  7. However, even if K’s father did pursue his own complaint, the Ombudsman would still not be able to investigate the court-related matters which Mr B has raised.

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Final decision

  1. I have discontinued my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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