Hertfordshire County Council (22 001 997)

Category : Children's care services > Looked after children

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 29 Aug 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about social workers. There is not enough evidence of fault to warrant investigation, and we could not achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking.

The complaint

  1. Mr X said corrupt social workers have been abusing their power and fabricating documents. He said the social workers should be dismissed and there should be financial compensation for the years of stress and the effect on his children’s lives

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
  2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:
  • there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
  • we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. This showed Mr X complained recently about the conduct of a review meeting for one of his children in care. I have therefore considered that complaint as well as the general point shown above.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. Mr X’s complaint to us lacks specifics of dates or events. We would not be likely to find fault by investigating it, and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate historic matters.
  2. His recent complaint to the Council, however, concerns a recent review meeting for one of his children in care. Even so, that complaint is not one where investigation by us would be likely to result in a finding of fault or lead to the outcome Mr X is seeking.
  3. Mr X’s complaint was in part that a social worker belittled him in a meeting. The Council did not accept this, saying that other people at the meeting did not confirm his view, and that he had been confrontational. We would be unlikely to establish fault by investigation as there are unlikely to have been impartial third-party witnesses. It is also clear that the Council and Mrs X have different views of what is in his child’s best interest. That difference of views does not amount to bias without evidence of the Council having reached decisions in defiance of accepted facts. Mr X’s complaint to the Council did not contain any specific allegation. It is therefore unlikely that we could establish fault.
  4. Finally, we could not deliver the outcome that Mr X is seeking. The dismissal of social workers is not something we can recommend, but would instead be likely to require a successful complaint of professional misconduct to a professional body. And compensation payments in the event of such a finding would be a matter for a court to decide.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant investigation. And we could not achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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