Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council’s children’s services has dealt with matters relating to the care of the complainants’ children. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault with the Council’s decision to pause its complaint investigation until related court proceedings have concluded.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains about the Council’s children’s services and their actions in regards to the care of his children. Mr X says the Council has delayed investigating his complaint at stage three of the statutory complaints procedure.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council considered Mr X’s complaint at stages one and two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure. Mr X asked the Council to escalate his complaint to stage three which involves a review by an independent panel.
6. After Mr X’s request, court proceedings commenced which related to the issues raised in Mr X’s complaint. The Council therefore decided to pause any further consideration of Mr X’s complaint, until after these proceedings have concluded. It told Mr X this is because the proceedings will consider the same issues Mr X had raised in his complaint and therefore further investigation by the Council could prejudice the court proceedings. The Council did accept it delayed informing Mr X of this and apologised.
7. There are strict timeframes councils must follow when considering complaints under the statutory procedure. However, councils can vary from the procedure in exceptional circumstances. Regulation 8 of The Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006 says councils can refuse to consider a complaint if to do so could prejudice concurrent court proceedings.
8. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault but the Council in its decision to pause Mr X’s complaint until the outcome of proceedings. This decision was made in accordance with the statutory complaints procedure regulations. Whilst the Council did delay informing Mr X of its decision, it has apologised which is an appropriate response. The Council will conclude its investigation once court proceedings have ended and if dissatisfied he may ask the Ombudsman to consider his complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman