Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to consider Miss X’s complaint under the children’s statutory complaint procedure. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council refused to consider her complaint under the children’s statutory complaint procedure because of ongoing, closely linked court proceedings.
2. Miss X says this caused her distress and uncertainty.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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), section 34(B))
4. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
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. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail.
8. Councils can refuse to consider a complaint if a complainant says they intend to take legal action or if investigating a complaint could prejudice concurrent court proceedings. However, after the proceedings have ended, a complainant can resubmit the complaint for the council to consider.
9. In its response to Miss X’s complaint, the Council refused to consider it because of ongoing, closely linked court proceedings. It invited Miss X to raise her concerns again after the proceedings had concluded.
10. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong.
11. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council here. The available evidence suggests it has acted in line with statutory guidance and so we cannot question its decision. For this reason, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman