Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s children’s services. Some parts of the complaint we cannot investigate because it concerns the content and preparation of a court report. The Council has agreed to remedy the other parts of the complaint by completing its stage two investigation, apologising to Mr X and making a symbolic payment. This provides a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused by the delay.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s children’s services. He says the social worker was biased, ignored evidence he provided and was unprofessional towards him. He says the social worker’s court report was inaccurate and unfair, and that the Council did not give him an opportunity to respond to it. He also says the social worker failed to act in his children’s best interests.
2. Mr X says the matter has caused him distress and made him lose trust in the Council’s children’s services. He wants the Council to acknowledge its failings, apologise, improve its services and apologise to him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The law prevents us from investigating matters about the preparation and contents of a court report. This means we cannot consider the social worker’s actions in preparing the report, including any allegations of bias, unprofessional behaviour or any alleged inaccuracies contained in the report.
9. Mr X also complains about the social worker’s conduct outside the court report process. In January 2026 the Council provided its stage one response. In February 2026, Mr X asked for an escalation to stage two. The Council has not yet issued its stage two response. The Council advised the delay was due to an administrative error. It has apologised to Mr X for this and advised us that it intends to complete its stage two investigation by 16 June 2026.
10. The Statutory Guidance for complaints about children’s services states that a council should complete its stage two investigation within 25 working days, with a maximum extension to 65 days for complex complaints.
11. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely we would find fault causing Mr X injustice due to the Council’s delay in completing its stage two investigation. We therefore asked the Council to consider resolving this complaint early.

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Agreed action

12. The Council has agreed to resolve this complaint by:
• Completing its stage two investigation without further delay and providing Mr X a response no later than 16 June 2026, being the date the Council has set itself.
• Ensuring it provides appropriate information to Mr X about the next steps available to him, including the right to request a stage three panel when it finishes stage two. If Mr X asks for a stage three investigation the Council should complete this within the statutory timeframes. The Council should also tell Mr X he can complain to us after completing stage three.
• Apologise to Mr X and make him a symbolic payment of £100 within one month of our final decision.
13. It is appropriate for the Council to consider the issues in the first instance. As the Council has agree to resolve the complaint early, we will therefore not investigate.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate some of Mr X’s complaints. We have upheld the other complaints because the Council has agreed to resolve them early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused by the delay.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman