Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to consider part of his complaint about a child protection conference he attended. This is because there is no sign of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains the Council will not consider part of his complaint about a child protection conference because he does not have parental responsibility for his stepdaughter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr X provided. I also considered the complaint correspondence which we requested from the Council. I sent Mr X a draft of my decision and invited his comments.

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What I found

5. Mr X complained to the Council about a child protection conference he attended, relating to his stepdaughter. Mr X complains the Council will not consider part of his complaint, even though he is closely involved with his stepdaughter.
6. The Council wrote to Mr X explaining it would not consider part of his complaint because he does not hold parental responsibility for his stepdaughter and is not considered to be acting as an agent for her. Also, it was a repeat of concerns about a third party which had been raised by his wife, and which were already being considered by the Council via its complaints procedure.
7. The Council recently told Mr X it had investigated the concerns and sent a response to Mr X’s wife.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate part of his complaint for the reasons set out above. The Council clearly explained its reasons for its decision to Mr X and there is nothing further we would add to the response already provided by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman