Summary: The Ombudsman will not and cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint. We cannot investigate issues which a Court is considering and the Health and Care Professions Council is better placed to consider a social worker’s conduct.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about a Council officer’s conduct, the provision of documents and the Council’s procedure for replying to her complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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 would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
4. We have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Ms X provided with her complaint and the Council’s replies which it provided. Ms X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

6. The Council’s children services team has been involved with Ms X and her two children this year. This complaint only concerns one child. Ms X complains about:
1. The conduct of a social worker assigned to her children. She is unhappy at the officer’s communication with her and their attitude towards her.
2. How the social worker engaged with contact issues between Ms X and the child’s father.
3. The information the social worker gave a Court.
4. The Council using its corporate complaints procedure to reply to her complaint and not the Children Act procedure. The later requires an independent person to oversee the complaints reply.

Analysis

7. We cannot investigate any evidence the Council officer gave the Court. We also cannot investigate the Council’s involvement in the contact between the child and their father, as the Court is considering the contact arrangements.
8. The Children Act complaints procedure only covers specific children services actions. Child protection assessments, social worker involvements in that, and child protection conferences, do not qualify for that procedure. It is unlikely we would find fault in the Council using its corporate complaints procedure.
9. Our role is to investigate the actions of the Council as a corporate body, not to hold a single officer accountable for their manner or conduct. If Ms X has concerns about the professionalism or integrity of an individual social worker, it is reasonable to expect her to report her concerns to their professional body, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate issues being considered within Court proceedings. And the HCPC is better placed to consider the social worker’s conduct.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman