London Borough of Harrow (23 017 669)
Category : Children's care services > Looked after children
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 07 Mar 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains about the Council’s investigation after her son was injured whilst he was in foster care and about the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X complained to the Council about its investigation after her son was injured whilst in foster care.
- The Council told Miss X it was unable to consider her complaint whilst there were ongoing related court proceedings. It advised Miss X to seek legal advice and raise her concerns during the proceedings.
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. This is in order to ensure that any court proceedings, which must take precedence, are not prejudiced by any ongoing complaint investigation. The Council’s decision is in line with statutory guidance to local authorities on childrens services complaint handling.
- If the Council considers Miss X’s substantive complaint once the court proceedings have concluded it will signpost Miss X back to this office in its final response.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing related court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman