Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s social services involvement with the complainant’s son. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decisions.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall refer to as Mr X, says the Council should have informed him of the contents of a social services referral document. After submitting a subject access request, he found out that there had been concerns raised of a risk to his son from his son’s half sibling. This relates to a period when his son used to live with his mother, her partner and other children.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the information from the complainant. I have read the Council’s responses. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and note his response.

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What I found

4. Mr X’s son now lives with him and Mr X says he has full legal custody.
5. Mr X found out through a subject access request that his son was reported by another family member as being at risk from a half sibling when his son lived with his mother. Mr X says he was not told of this risk at the time it was raised. He says, if he had been informed, he would have taken steps to safeguard his son’s living conditions earlier than he did.
6. The Council explains the context in which the information was raised. It says this was in an initial referral document highlighting the need for support for Mr X’s son’s half sibling. It states there has been no information to show that Mr X’s son was harmed or at ‘significant risk at harm’.
7. The Council says if it had carried out an assessment on Mr X’s son it would have informed Mr X. But as it didn’t, it had no reason to inform Mr X.
8. My final decision is the Ombudsman will not investigate as we are unlikely to find evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decisions here. The matters raised were subject to the professional judgements of qualified social workers. I do not see grounds for the Ombudsman to investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman