Plymouth City Council (21 014 855)

Category : Children's care services > Other

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 07 Feb 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an allegation that a social worker sexually propositioned Mr X during a home visit.

The complaint

  1. Mr X said a social worker sexually propositioned him during a visit. He said she threatened to make his life hell if he did not comply.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. The Council has told Mr X it has investigated, but that it has found no evidence that the social worker propositioned him. It has offered to reinvestigate if he supplies evidence. We cannot add to that.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because doing so would be unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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