Luton Borough Council (23 016 264)

Category : Children's care services > Other

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 05 Mar 2024

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of a social worker and the complainant not being paid for services he has provided. This is because there is no worthwhile outcome we could achieve.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, Mr X, works as a carer for families who have children with care needs. The families pay Mr X from direct payments funded by the Council. Mr X complained about a council social worker. Mr X said they were unprofessional and had lied to a family he works with. Mr X complained about unpaid invoices and the Council trying to persuade families not to use his services. The Council has refused to escalate Mr X’s complaint due to an ongoing fraud investigation involving Mr X.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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 another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
  • it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal; or
  • there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

  1. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
  2. We cannot investigate a complaint where the body complained about is not responsible for the issue being raised. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. We will not start an investigation into Mr X’s complaint. The Council and its partners need to complete their fraud investigation. We will not interfere with this investigation and we could achieve no worthwhile outcome until it is complete. Once the fraud investigation is complete, it is open to Mr X to take his complaint back to the Council. If he was unhappy with the outcome he could return to the Ombudsman, and we would decide whether to investigate. But any dispute about payments between Mr X and families who have used his services is unlikely to be something we would consider.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not achieve a worthwhile outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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