Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about poor professional practice in Children’s Social Care. That is because further investigation will not lead to a different outcome and there is a different body best placed to consider it.

The complaint

1. Ms X’s complaint to the Council was part of a group complaint made in 2022. That complaint focused on the culture within Children’s Social Care and the actions of Council Officers involved in the complainants’ cases. It also related to concerns about how the Council had dealt with Subject Access Requests (SARs).
2. The complainants are not satisfied with the outcome of the Council’s response to their complaint. They said they had not seen the evidence on which the Independent Investigator based their opinions, and the complaint report did not set out the competing evidence considered.
3. Ms X’s representations to the Council included decisions it had taken to place her children into care. She also felt a Council Officer’s involvement in her children’s cases had been a conflict of interest.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. 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)
7. 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
• 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

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. The Council appointed an Independent Investigator to investigate the themes of the group complaint around professional practice and the quality of its contact centre. The investigation did not find evidence to support the allegations around poor professional conduct or that Council Officers were not properly supervised. However, it upheld complaints around the contact centre. It found the contact centre did not use strengths-based practice and was not transparent in feedback it gave to parents. The Independent Investigator made recommendations to the Council. The Council said it is implementing service improvements.
11. We will not investigate the complaints about wider practice further. The Council has investigated and taken steps to address concerns where identified. Further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome. In addition, the Office for Standard in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) inspects children’s services. It is best placed to consider the wider thematic concerns about the Council’s social work practice. Any concerns around a social workers fitness to practice are best dealt with through Social Work England.
12. We will also not investigate any complaints about how the Council has dealt with SARs. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) considers complaints around how organisations respond to requests for personal information.
13. We will also not investigate concerns Ms X raised in her personal representations to the Council. That is because the complaints are late as the events happened more than twelve months ago. There is no good reason to exercise discretion to consider these now. Additionally, we have no jurisdiction to investigate matters that have been considered by the court. If Ms X has any current concerns around the Council’s actions in relation to her children, she can ask the Council to consider these through the Statutory Complaints procedure.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because further investigation will not lead to a different outcome and there is a different body best placed to consider it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman