Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the way the Council changed a child’s care arrangements. We cannot investigate why her agency is no longer employing her and she does not have consent to complain on behalf of the child or foster carers.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about the Council’s children services team changing the care of a child, Z.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about a personnel issue. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 4, as amended)
3. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word 'fault' to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Ms X provided with her complaint which included the Council’s reply. Ms X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

6. Ms X was a nursing carer for Z. She was employed via an agency. Ms X says Z moved foster carers in September 2019. She says following this the Council changed Z’s caring arrangements and she was no longer employed to care for Z.
7. Ms X complains about the circumstances of Z’s move, including whether the Council followed the right processes. She says the Council failed to properly investigate the allegations which led to the move. She says these allegations were not against her.
8. We cannot investigate personnel complaints from Council employees. This includes ending employment contracts and investigations into staff conduct. Ms X is not employed directly by the Council. We could not investigate why her agency has not employed her. The Council told Ms X she needed to contact her agency.
9. Ms X is not Z’s current nor past foster carer. She does not have parental responsibility for Z. We cannot accept a complaint from her about Z’s care. We also cannot accept a complaint from her about the foster carers’ treatment.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate why her agency is not employing her and she does not have consent to complain on behalf of the most directly relevant people.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman