Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to place Miss X’s children on a child protection plan. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s decision to place her children on a child protection (CP) plan. She said the Council’s report for the CP conference contained inaccurate information. She said the Social Worker used inflammatory language in the report and racially discriminated against her. Miss X said the Council’s actions have affected her mental health. Miss X wants the Council to address the inaccuracies in the report. She wants the Council to investigate the Social Worker about her reports of racial discrimination.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)
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, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. The Council held a CP conference because of concerns it had around Miss X’s child, Y and around her relationship with her ex-partner. The Council invited other agencies involved with Miss X and her children to attend the conference. These agencies provided reports for the conference. Not all the agencies shared their reports with Miss X. The assessing Social Worker also provided a report.
7. At the conference, Miss X set out her reasons for disagreeing with the Social Worker’s report. She provided a written response which the Council confirmed had been placed on the case records. The Chair of the conference considered her comments but did not go through all of Miss X’s written submissions. The Chair considered the views of the agencies attending the conference. The different agencies had split views about whether the family needed support under Child Protection. The Council decided to place the children on a CP plan. In its complaint response it confirmed this was because of concerns around domestic abuse and the emotional impact on the children.
8. Although Miss X is unhappy with the Council’s decision to place her children on a CP plan and the contents of the Social Worker’s report, we will not investigate this complaint. We will not question a Council’s decision where there is no evidence of fault in how it was made. The Council considered all available information presented in the CP conference, including Miss X’s comments about the Social Workers report. It said it placed the children on a CP plan because of the domestic abuse concerns. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made that decision to justify our involvement.
9. The Council has recorded her disagreements about the Social Worker’s report and recorded these on case file. Further investigation will not lead to a different outcome. Miss X can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Officer if she believes the Council holds incorrect information about her. This is called the right to rectification.
10. In the Council’s complaint response, it did identify some faults in it not sharing the CP plan, or minutes to the CP conference within timeframes. It apologised for this. It said other agencies were responsible for not sharing their reports.
11. Miss X said the Social Worker racially discriminated against her. Miss X has not made this complaint to the Council. She would need to exhaust the Council’s complaints procedure before we would consider it.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman