Staffordshire County Council (25 018 136)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council gave legal advice to the mother of his child to encourage her to breach a court order. This is because we have not seen enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council gave legal advice over the phone to encourage the mother of his child to breach a court order.
- Mr X also complained the Council refused to accept his subsequent complaint. He said this made him feel like the Council is not accountable for its decisions.
- Mr X said the Council should accept his complaint and not give legal advice over the phone.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of fault to justify a further investigation.
- The Council has explained it cannot accept Mr X’s complaint because it relates to advice it gave to the mother of his child. It said it gave her advice at the time, but it was her decision to exercise parental responsibility in a matter involving the child.
- The Council also said that it then advised both Mr X and the child’s mother to get independent legal advice.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman