Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council was at fault in managing his requests for contact with his nephew. This is because there is nothing significant to be achieved by doing so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr B, complains that the Council was at fault in managing his requests for contact with his nephew.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. 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 we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered what Mr B has said in support of his complaint and the correspondence he has provided. I have considered what Mr B has said in response to my draft decision.

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What I found

4. Mr B’s nephew was in the care of the Council. Mr B complains that the social worker assigned to the case failed to facilitate contact between him and his nephew. Specifically, he complains that the social worker failed to respond to a request for contact for three months.
5. The Council has considered Mr B’s complaint. It agrees that the social worker was at fault and has apologised. Mr B regards this as insufficient. He wants an explanation, and the social worker and her manager to apologise personally.
6. We will not investigate this complaint because there is nothing to be gained from doing so. The Council has upheld the key aspect of the complaint and apologised.
7. Mr B says he has not received a written apology from the social worker. The Ombudsman considers complaints against councils, not individual council staff. The apology the council has made is sufficient. The fact that Mr B disagrees, and wants a personal apology, does not provide us with grounds to investigate.
8. The Ombudsman will not normally investigate complaints which have been upheld unless there is something significant to be gained by doing so. That is not the case here. The care of the child has now been considered in court, so there is no prospect that the Ombudsman’s intervention would achieve anything more.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is nothing significant to be achieved by doing so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman