Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s children’s services assessments. This is because it is reasonable to expect Mr Y to take the matter to court.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains about the content the Council’s social worker included in various assessments about his children’s safety and care. Mr Y says the assessments are biased and in places poor quality with incorrect information.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), 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 there is another body better placed to consider the complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I read the information Mr Y and the Council provided and discussed the complaint with Mr Y. Mr Y had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

5. Mr Y has two young children. He is unhappy with the content of several assessments and reports made by the Council’s social workers about the care and wellbeing of his children. He says the Council has been biased in its decision making and included information which was incorrect. Mr Y considers this information to have been falsified.
6. Mr Y is shortly due to attend court in an action to gain access and custody of his children. The contents of the social worker’s reports is inextricably linked to those proceedings, about what access Mr Y should have to his children. He is also able to raise his concerns about the content of the assessments during the proceedings and explain he does not agree with the contents of them. As Mr Y is due to attend court within the next month, it is reasonable to expect him to take his concerns to the court. It would then be for the court to decide what information it considers when making any subsequent orders about Mr Y’s access to his children.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s social services assessments. This is because it is reasonable to expect Mr Y to take the matter to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman