Cambridgeshire County Council (23 016 895)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 07 Mar 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a phone call he received from a Council officer. This is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and we cannot achieve what Mr X wants.
The complaint
- Mr X complained about a phone call he received from a Council officer. He said the officer was angry and spoke to him in an inappropriate manner. He wants the Council to remove the officer from their post.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In its complaint response to Mr X, it apologised if Mr X had been upset by the officer’s approach. It said it had discussed the call with the officer and although there was some disagreement about what was said, they had agreed to work to improve the service and to ensure appropriate language was used when speaking to families.
- We will not investigate this complaint as further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. The Council has apologised to Mr X and set out action it will take to improve its service, which is an appropriate outcome. Although Mr X wants the officer removed from their post, we could not achieve this. The Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to consider personnel matters.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and we could not achieve what Mr X wants.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman