Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s late complaint about the Council’s handling of child protection matters involving Ms Y’s children. This is because the law prevents us from investigating some of the Council’s action where this relates to the content of reports produced for court proceedings. We could not add to the Council’s investigation of Ms X’s complaints under all three stages of the statutory complaints process. We also cannot achieve the outcomes the complainant wants.

The complaint

1. Ms X has made this complaint on behalf of Ms Y. Ms X complains the Council’s actions have led to Ms Y’s eldest child being alienated from her and her other children. Ms X says the Council failed to properly identify Ms Y as a victim of domestic abuse. She also alleges the Council showed bias against Ms Y in its handling and statements made in court proceedings. Ms X wants the Council to award substantial compensation to Ms Y and her children, give personal apologies from the staff involved and take meaningful action to improve and learn from its handling of Ms Y’s case.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (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 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. Because of this, if a council has investigated something under the statutory children’s complaint process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it.
8. However, we may look at whether there were any flaws in the stage two investigation or stage three review panel that could call the findings into question.
9. The Council concluded its consideration of Ms X’s complaints on Ms Y’s behalf under stage three of the statutory complaint process in early November 2021. Ms X’s complaints related to the Council’s handling of child protection matters involving Ms Y’s children in 2019 and 2020.
10. In September 2023, the Council sent Ms X a further response following the stage three review panel’s recommendations in November 2021. Within this response, the Council offered further apologies to Ms Y for the distress caused by the elements of her complaint the stage review panel upheld. The Council explained the action it had taken to learn from Ms Y’s experience. The Council also offered Ms Y a remedy payment based on the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies in recognition of the distress, harm/risk of harm, time and trouble and delays Ms Y had experienced.
11. Ms X has not provided details or evidence to show the Council’s complaint handling under the statutory process was so flawed that it warrants us investigating further. The Council exercised discretion to include complaint issues relating to court proceedings which would normally be excluded from the statutory complaint process.
12. Further investigation of Mr X’s complaints by the Ombudsman is unlikely to add to the Council’s responses. The investigation and consideration completed at stages two and three have been detailed and thorough. The remedial action the Council has offered to Ms Y is in line with our guidance and therefore similar to the remedies we would typically recommend in such cases. We also have no power to award substantial compensation in the same way as the courts.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late. Further investigation could not add to the Council’s responses. We cannot achieve the outcomes the complainant wants and the law prevents us from investigating anything that has been the subject of court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman