Summary: Mr X complains about how the Council conducted a social work assessment and managed a child protection plan in respect of his children. We have discontinued our investigation. The Council has already accepted that it was wrong, and has offered Mr X a remedy in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, made a complaint to the Council about how it conducted a social work assessment and managed a child protection plan.
2. The Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint and accepted that it had failed in most of the significant areas about which he had complained. It specifically accepted that it had:
• failed to consider the positive relationship between Mr X and his eldest son;
• failed to develop a working relationship with Mr X;
• failed to properly explore its safeguarding concerns with Mr X prior to the initial child protection conference;
• implied, without good reason, that Mr X’s employer should be informed of the child protection plan;
• failed to provide minutes of meetings without explaining to Mr X why the minutes were being withheld;
• failed to help Mr X manage the risk from his son’s social media account; and
• failed to make allowances for Mr X’s condition, which a medical letter had described as involving behaviour similar to someone on the autistic spectrum.
3. Among other things, the Council offered Mr X £1,000 to recognise his ‘severe and prolonged’ distress. It also offered him £300 for his time and trouble.
4. Mr X says the Council’s financial remedy should be higher.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. 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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information from Mr X and the Council. Both 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

7. Although the Council has admitted to wide-ranging mistakes, and Mr X undoubtedly suffered injustice arising from them, the question I must answer is whether the Council should be expected to provide him with a financial remedy higher than the £1,300 it has already offered.
8. The Ombudsman can recommend financial remedies for both distress and ‘time and trouble’ – the two areas for which the Council has offered Mr X payments.
9. The Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies says:

A remedy payment for distress is often a moderate sum of between £100 and £300. In cases where the distress was severe or prolonged, up to £1,000 may be justified. Exceptionally, we may recommend more than this.

10. The Council itself has decided that Mr X’s distress was both severe and prolonged, and has offered a payment at the top of our usual range. Having reviewed Mr X's complaint and the Council’s findings – findings with which Mr X agrees – I not seen anything to suggest that his distress was so exceptional that it justifies a higher payment.
11. Our guidance also says:

The remedy payment for time and trouble is unlikely to be less than £100 or more than £300. It should be adjusted to reflect the degree of extra difficulty experienced by the complainant, and any factors which make the complainant vulnerable.

12. The Council has already offered Mr X a ‘time and trouble’ payment which is at the top of our usual range. I have not seen anything to suggest that he experienced such difficulty making the complaint that he should receive a higher payment.
13. Because of this, there is nothing I can add to what the Council has already said. It has offered Mr X a financial remedy in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance.

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Final decision

14. I have discontinued my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman