Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about contact with his grandchild because an investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome and we are satisfied with the Council’s responses to his concerns. We will not investigate the other parts of his complaint because we previously responded to a complaint about contact with the child.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council has reduced contact with his grandchild over the last seven years. He said the contact has changed from being regular to being supervised contact amounting to over a half day per year of contact.
2. Mr X said he and his granddaughter would benefit from longer, unsupervised contact, with other family members also present.

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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 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:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services.
8. Mr X went through the three-stage procedure. At stage three, the Review Panel made several recommendations which the Council accepted. These included improving communications with Mr X about contact arrangements and exploring the possibility of unsupervised contact that would also include other family members.
9. The Council also agreed that the Independent Reviewing Officer and the relevant service managers will regularly review the contact arrangements and work with Mr X to adapt them where appropriate.
10. The Council acknowledged that it previously failed to communicate with Mr X about a last-minute change to planned contact in March 2025.
11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because a further investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome. We also consider the Panel Review responses and recommendations to be a reasonable and proportionate remedy to Mr X’s concerns.
12. Mr X complained about how the Council has handled his case over the last seven years. However, we previously responded to a complaint from Mr X in April 2024 about contact with the child. We will therefore not investigate any matters that we have previously considered.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because a further investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome. We consider the Council’s complaint response at stage three to be a reasonable remedy. We will also not investigate matters that took place before April 2024.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman