Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about children’s services’ actions. The law prevents us from investigating complaints that have been part of court proceedings. Nor will we investigate the other parts of Mr X’s complaint relating to how the Council considered his complaint. Part of the issues he raises here are now late and it would have been reasonable for Mr X to ask the Council for a review of the complaint investigation. Additionally, we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.

The complaint

1. Mr X, represented by Mr Y, complained the Council had not properly investigated his complaint and allowed social workers to act in ways that breach their professional standards.
2. Mr X said this caused distress and made him feel victimised.
3. Mr X wants the Council to remove, dismiss and prosecute the social workers who have breached their professional standards.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
6. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
7. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
8. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered information provided by Mr Y and the Council.
10. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. Mr X’s children have been involved with social workers for several years. During this time, Mr X and Mr Y have raised a number of complaints about the service that has been provided.

Complaint about the substantive matters

12. I have considered the complaint issues that Mr Y supplied to us. We cannot investigate these matters. They have been part of court proceedings and in line with legislation at paragraph five, the law does not allow us to investigate such matters. In any case it is likely these issues could have reasonably been mentioned as part of the court proceedings.

Complaint about the Council’s investigation

13. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
14. After consideration of a previous complaint Mr X made to the Ombudsman, the Council agreed to carry out a stage two complaint investigation.
15. In early 2024, Mr X and Mr Y both had the opportunity to meet with the investigating officer and the independent person as part of the stage two complaint investigation.
16. Mr X said he did not agree with the scope of the stage two complaint investigation. The Council said it had considered the children’s statutory complaint regulations and decided to proceed with the investigation to prevent further delay.
17. We will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint. Mr X was aware of the scope of the stage two complaint investigation, and of the Council’s decision to proceed without his explicit agreement, more than 12 months ago. It was reasonable to expect Mr X to have approached us sooner, with a complaint about this matter. And I have not seen any good reasons why this could not have been raised with us in time.
18. When the Council completed the stage two investigation, Mr X was informed of his right to request escalation to a stage three independent review panel. Mr X did not request escalation as he did not believe the stage two investigation captured the issues he wanted to complain about.
19. We will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint. It was reasonable for Mr X to ask the Council to complete the three-stage statutory children’s complaints process and then approach the Ombudsman.
20. Additionally, we cannot achieve the outcomes that Mr X seeks. The Ombudsman cannot investigate whether social workers are meeting their professional standards of conduct. Complaints of this nature should be referred to the social workers’ professional body, Social Work England.

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Final decision

21. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about matters that have been part of court proceedings. Some of the complaint is late and it was reasonable for Mr X to ask the Council for a review of the complaint investigation. In any case we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman