Summary: Ms D complained the Council unreasonably took safeguarding action in respect of her son. We find the Council was at fault how it handled Ms D’s case. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address Ms D’s injustice.

The complaint

1. Ms D complained the Council unreasonably took safeguarding action in respect of her son. She says she told the Council she would not leave her son alone again, but it still decided to pursue a case against her. She further complained the Council started an assessment without her consent. Finally, Ms D says the Council’s assessment was full of mistruths and inaccurate information.
2. Ms D says it has been an extremely traumatic experience for herself and her son.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
6. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information Ms D submitted with her complaint. I made written enquiries of the Council and considered information it sent in response.
8. Ms D and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

9. The Children Act 1989 says councils have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need.
10. These duties are set out in the statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’. If a council receives a report of concern about a child, the referrer must have the opportunity to discuss their concerns with a qualified social worker. The council must then, within one working day, decide what response is required. This includes determining whether:

• The child requires immediate protection.
• The child should be assessed under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
• There is reasonable caused to suspect that the child is suffering, or likely to suffer significant harm.

11. Multi-agency assessments under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 (known as child and family assessments) must be carried out within 45 days from the safeguarding referral. The purpose of the assessment is to gather information and to analyse the needs of the child or children and/or their family and the nature and level of any risk of harm to the child or children. The child must be seen by a qualified social worker, who should also interview the parent and any other relevant family member.
12. Following the assessment, a council will decide whether to:

• Take no further action.
• Develop a child in need plan for the provision of services to promote the child’s health and development.
• Carry out specialist assessments for a more in-depth understanding of the child’s needs and circumstances.
• Undertake a strategy discussion and a section 47 enquiry. A section 47 enquiry may be triggered if there are allegations about neglect or abuse of a child.
• Take emergency action to protect a child.

The Kent and Medway safeguarding children procedures

13. These procedures set out how the Council meets its child safeguarding duties. They are published by the Kent Safeguarding Children Partnership – of which the Council is a member – and its neighbouring partnership in Medway.
14. If the Council receives a referral and decides to assess a child under section 17, those with parental responsibility should be informed of the referral and asked for consent to undertaking a child and family assessment. Parents agreement to any social worker intervention or to services for their child is necessary.
15. If parents refuse consent after the social worker has made sure they have been given full information about the benefits of assessment and support, this refusal should be accepted and recorded. If it is considered that the child is likely to suffer significant harm without social worker intervention, then an assessment should be carried out under section 47. Consent is then not required, but parents should be informed of the change of approach and the reasons for the concerns.

What happened

16. Ms D received an email from her son’s (E) school in January 2021. It told her it had taken advice from the safeguarding team after E said Ms D had left him home alone. The safeguarding team told the school that if a child was left alone at home, after the family was advised against it, it was duty bound to escalate it further. This is because a child of E’s age did not have the maturity to respond safely to emergencies. The school provided Ms D with the link to a website from a child protection charity so she could get further information.
17. Ms D responded to the school and asked who it had spoken to within the safeguarding team. She also said it had provided her with different information from what was in the guidance on the charity’s website.
18. Ms D sent her emails with E’s school to the Council. The Council assigned the matter to its front door team. The front door team screens referrals and decides if the Council needs to take further action to protect a child’s welfare.
19. A social worker (Social Worker A) called Ms D and asked for more information. Ms D said she had left E alone during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to go shopping. Social Worker A said leaving E alone was not desirable and it could be viewed as neglect. He also said E was upset and nervous when she left him alone. Ms D said the Council could not rely on what the school was saying because she had previously made complaints about it. Social Worker A said he would ask another social worker to contact Ms D to arrange a home visit. Ms D said Social Worker A was not listening to her and so she ended the call.
20. Ms D emailed the Council after the phone call. She said the advice Social Worker A and the school provided her with was not in line with the guidance. She also confirmed she would not leave E home alone again under any circumstances. Finally, she said E would not go back to school until matters were resolved.
21. Social Worker A called Ms D again. He said she would benefit with having further support from another social worker. Ms D said once he had resolved issues with the school, she would allow a visit from a social worker. She also reiterated she would not leave E alone again.
22. Ms D sent the Council a further email. She said Social Worker A had refused to accept she did not want a visit despite her confirmation she would not leave E alone again. She said E was not in danger.
23. Social Worker A referred the matter to the Council’s social work team. He said he was concerned Ms D did not fully accept the risks to E when she left him home alone. He recommended that a social worker needed to complete an assessment to explore the issues further with Ms D.
24. The social work team assigned another social worker (Social Worker B) to the file. She called Ms D to arrange a home visit. Ms D said she did not want a home visit. She also said she had many issues with the school and would not leave E alone again.
25. Social Worker B contacted the school to gather further information. She called Ms D again to arrange a home visit. Ms D said she would not allow anyone to visit her flat because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She asked Social Worker B to send her an email with her concerns.
26. Social Worker B emailed Ms D on the same day. She said the Council was concerned E was upset when he was home alone. She also said she was concerned Ms D’s relationship with the school had broken down and E was not attending school. She said there was a risk E could injure himself when he was home alone and so the Council needed reassurance there were alternative arrangements in place.
27. Ms D responded and said she would forward on her correspondence with the school. She also asked which employee from the school told Social Worker A that E was upset when she went shopping.
28. Ms D chased Social Worker B for a response. Social Worker B responded and said children need to be emotionally ready to be at home alone. There was also a safety concern. Ms D responded and said there were minimal risks and she no longer left E alone.
29. Social Worker B tried to visit Ms D on 29 January. Ms D was not in, but she agreed to meet in the community.
30. Social Worker B met Ms D and E on the same day. The Council’s notes of the visit say Ms D agreed to it completing an assessment.
31. Ms D emailed Social Worker B on 3 February and asked for confirmation in writing what Social Worker A said on the phone.
32. Social Worker B met Ms D and E in the community on 4 February. The Council’s notes say Ms D have her consent for it to gather information about her from third party agencies.
33. Social Worker B sent Ms D the Council’s privacy statement on 5 February. She also visited Ms D’s flat on the same day.
34. Ms D responded on 6 February and cancelled consent for Social Worker B to contact other agencies. She said Social Worker A had failed to provide his written statement, despite her repeated requests. She asked for the Council to treat her email as an official complaint.
35. Social Worker B responded on 8 February and said the Council’s systems were down and so she could not see what Social Worker A had recorded. She said she would complete the assessment with the information she had already gathered.
36. The Council delivered a copy of the assessment on 15 February. It concluded the threshold for neglect had not been met because Ms D had been advised not to leave E alone again. Therefore, it agreed to close its file.
37. Ms D emailed Social Worker B on the same day and said the assessment was not complete and there were lots of factual mistakes.
38. The Council issued a response to Ms D’s complaint on 23 February. This was about her experience with Social Worker A. It confirmed the school told it that E was upset when he was left home alone. It said Social Worker A was not as professional as he could have been during the call, and he did speak over Ms D. It also said Ms D's explanation of why she left E at home was plausible and Social Worker A did not reflect this in the case notes. Ms D’s confirmation that she would not leave E home alone again was also not reflected in the case notes. It apologised for her experience and said it would be a focal point of learning for Social Worker A in his next supervision session.
39. Ms D emailed the Council on 25 February. She said it still had not answered which employee at the school made the claim she left E at home repeatedly and he was upset by it. She also said Social Worker A had not personally apologised and Social Worker B harassed her and failed to consider the evidence.
40. The Council issued its response to Ms D’s complaints about her experience with Social Worker B on 18 March. It said it had to satisfy itself she would not leave E alone again. It said the advice she received about not leaving E unsupervised for any length of time was not in conflict with the recommendations given by the child protection charity. It said it could meet her to resolve her concerns about the inaccuracies in the assessment.
41. The Council issued further responses to Ms D’s complaint about Social Worker A on 19 and 23 March. It confirmed the name of the employee at the school who provided information to Social Worker A. It said Social Worker A was sorry and he accepted he should have acted differently. Finally, it said Social Worker A’s decision making was wrong. It said he should not have put the case through to the social work team.
42. The Council issued its stage two response about Ms D’s concerns with Social Worker B on 21 April. It said once the referral had progressed to the social work team, the team manager was concerned about the referral information and felt it needed to speak to Ms D again and discuss the issue of consent. It assigned the case to Social Worker B. Ms D gave her verbal consent for Social Worker B to complete an assessment. It said it should have followed up her verbal consent with signed written consent to ensure she knew what she agreeing to and that she did not have to agree to it completing an assessment. It apologised that it was not more thorough in its approach.
43. The Council also said Ms D’s mental health should not have been in the assessment without medical evidence. It apologised for this. It said it would remove the information and it also agreed to upload Ms D’s disagreements with the assessment onto its file.
44. The Council sent Ms D the assessment in June. However, because of a major IT incident, it sent the same assessment rather than an amended version. It sent the amended version in July.

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Analysis

45. The Council must ensure the safety of children in its area. When the Council became aware Ms D had left E alone, it had a duty to contact her to find out more information and ensure E was safe.
46. I have listened to the recordings of Ms D’s calls with Social Worker A. I agree with the Council’s view that Social Worker A did sometimes talk over Ms D and did not always appear to be listening to her. This is fault which caused Ms D frustration.
47. Ms D explained why she had left E alone and she said she would not do it again. This is not in Social Worker A’s case notes, which is fault. This fault added to Ms D’s overall feeling that her voice was not being heard.
48. The Council apologised to Ms D for Social Worker A’s interactions with her, and it confirmed it would raise it in his next supervision. While I welcome the steps the Council has already taken, I consider it needs to go further to address Ms D’s injustice.
49. I asked the Council to clarify its statement from its complaint response that Social Worker A should not have passed the file to its social work team. The Council says it aims to get consent from parents before referring a child to the social work team. However, it can override this if there are safeguarding concerns. It says although getting consent would have been preferable, it was correct to refer the matter to the social work team because of subsequent concerns that were raised.
50. It appears the Council would have always passed the case to its social work team, regardless of whether it had Ms D’s consent or not. The Council has explained that it wanted to get further information from Ms D to ensure she understood the risks of leaving E alone. As I mentioned in paragraph 47, the Council has duty to ensure the safety of children in its area.
51. The case notes suggest Ms D provided Social Worker B with verbal consent for her to complete an assessment. Ms D says Social Worker B did not mention she needed her consent to complete an assessment. She says if she knew she needed to give consent for the assessment, she would never have given it.
52. Social Worker B and Ms D have different recollections about the issue of consent. The Council’s procedures are clear that those with parental responsibility for a child should be asked for consent to undertake an assessment. If a parent refuses consent, it should be accepted and recorded. The Council can carry out an assessment under section 47 without parental consent, but that is only when it considers a child is likely to suffer significant harm.
53. I do not consider it is likely Ms D would have consented to the assessment given the strength of feeling she had about the Council’s involvement. I am therefore not satisfied Social Worker B fully explored with Ms D that she did not have to give consent. I agree with the Council’s view that in Ms D’s case, it should have asked for her written agreement, so she was clear in what she was agreeing to. It is unlikely the matter would have progressed any further because Ms D had already confirmed she would not leave E alone again.
54. Ms D is unhappy with the assessment. She says it is full of inaccurate information. The Council wrongly included information about Ms D’s mental health which was not backed up by any medical records. This is fault. The Council has now removed this from the assessment. The Council needs to ensure information in its assessments are accurate and evidence based.
55. Ms D has other issues with the assessment, such as comments on her educational background and her ethnicity. The Council has confirmed it has added Ms D’s disagreement with the assessment onto the file. This is the correct action to take and so I do not recommend anything further.
56. I am aware Ms D wants the Council to delete the assessment. The Council has advised Ms D to make an official application under General Data Protection Regulation. She can refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office if she is not happy with the Council’s response. The Information Commissioner’s Office is best placed to consider such matters.

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Agreed action

57. To address the injustice caused by fault, by 23 December 2021 the Council has agreed to:

• Issue a further apology to Ms D.
• Pay Ms D £250 which is a symbolic payment to reflect the upset and frustration it has caused her.
• Place a copy of the final decision onto E’s file.
• Provide me with evidence it has learnt lessons from Ms D’s complaint and it will now, where appropriate, follow up verbal consent with written consent when undertaking an assessment.
• Using this case an example, issue written reminders to its social workers to ensure they complete accurate and evidence-based assessments.

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Final decision

58. I have found fault by the Council, which caused Ms D an injustice. The Council has agreed to my recommendations and so I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman