Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council's handling of a statutory children's services complaint. There is insufficient evidence of fault because the Council was entitled to pause the complaint while related court proceedings were ongoing and informed Miss X of her right to continue the statutory complaints procedure once those proceedings had concluded.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council's handling of a parenting assessment completed during care proceedings concerning her son. She says there was a delay in finalising the assessment and that information provided by the assessor about changes made to the report was inconsistent with what she had previously been told. Miss X believes inaccurate information was subsequently presented during court proceedings, which affected decisions about her son's care.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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))
3. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The statutory children’s complaints procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two.
8. In this case, the Council paused the Stage two procedure due to ongoing court proceedings and informed Miss X that she could continue with the statutory complaints procedure once those proceedings had concluded. Miss X has the right to continue the statutory complaints process now that the court proceedings have ended.
9. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at the Council's decision. Instead, we consider whether there was fault in the way the Council reached its decision. In this case, there is no evidence to suggest there were flaws in the statutory complaints process.
10. We will not investigate Miss X's complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council. The information I have seen shows the Council acted in line with the statutory complaints procedure when it paused consideration of the complaint during the court proceedings and subsequently advised Miss X that she could continue the procedure once those proceedings had concluded.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council handled the statutory complaints procedure.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman