Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to a referral relating to the complainant’s daughter. This is because our intervention would not add to the investigation the Council has already carried out or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs X, complains that the Council was at fault in its response to a referral received by Children’s Services relating to her daughter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the @complainant @and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The correspondence Mrs X has provided shows that the Council received a referral from her daughter’s school following a disclosure her daughter had made. Mrs X complains that the Council’s response to the referral was flawed.
6. The evidence shows that Mrs X and her husband spoke with a social worker from the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub team within Children’s Services. Mrs X believes the social worker’s responses to the matter were contradictory and failed to take account of relevant factors. She complains that the social worker asked for details of her employment without cause to do so, and failed to clarify that the case would be closed.
7. The Council has upheld the complaint in part. It accepts that there was a lack of clarity in the information it gave Mrs X, and it has apologised for this.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no likelihood that investigation would add anything significant to the response the Council has already made. Given that the Council has already apologised that its officer was not sufficiently clear, there is no need for us to consider this any further.
9. Regarding the other aspects of the complaint, the Council has properly explained why it asked for Mrs X’s employment details and why it decided an offer of Early Help was the appropriate response to the referral. The Council’s responses appear reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances of the case. The Ombudsman’s involvement would not lead to a different outcome, so our intervention is not warranted.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because our intervention would not add to the investigation the Council has already carried out or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman