Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in Mr X’s children’s case. We have no legal power to investigate events prior to June 2023. We cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks, there is not a good reason for the delay in him complaining to us about some elements of the complaint and it was reasonable, in any event, for him to raise all concerns as part of closely related private proceedings.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s involvement in his children’s case. His complaints included the Council was biased towards the children’s mother despite Mr X raising significant concerns, and failed to follow a court order which said the Council should carry out spot checks at the mother’s home.
2. Mr X said the matter has caused him and his children significant distress. He said it also caused him a significant financial detriment, due to him spending more than necessary on private proceedings and the associated time he took off from work. He wanted the Council to pay him compensation of £5,000 to account for the financial implications of events, apologise and recruit more male social workers.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

4. 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)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
6. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
7. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

10. Mr X’s complaint is about events between 2022 and 2024 involving the Council’s involvement in his children’s case. The courts were involved for some of the period in question, with both care proceedings and private family proceedings having taken place. The children have been in Mr X’s care since late 2023.

Events between 2022 and June 2023

11. We have no legal power to investigate these parts of Mr X’s complaint. We cannot consider the Council’s decision to begin care proceedings or what happened during the proceedings, which includes the content of the Council’s reports to court and its associated actions while proceedings continued.
12. Mr X’s complaint about bias by the social worker is not something we have any power to consider, as it relates to their assessment of the case as part of court proceedings. Mr X had the opportunity to raise his concerns as part of those care proceedings, to which he was a respondent.

Events after June 2023

13. Part of Mr X’s complaint relates to a period after care proceedings had ended. The family courts had issued a Child Arrangement Order which stated the children would live at their mother’s home. The care proceedings, instigated by the Council, culminated in the court issuing a supervision order in June 2023. This set out steps the Council should take, such as carrying out spot-checks at the children’s mother’s home.
14. Mr X says the Council did not follow this court order. He says had it done so, it would have found out sooner that the children’s mother was using alcohol and drugs and he would have been prevented from needing to pay subsequent fees for further private proceedings.

Late complaints

15. We cannot consider late complaints unless there are good reasons. The law says people must normally bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter.
16. Mr X told the Council in October 2023 he believed the children’s mother had started drinking alcohol again, and raised concerns it was not carrying out spot checks in line with the court order. Mr X had sufficient reason to complain at that time, and that is when the 12 month period for complaining to us about this matter began. He brought this complaint to us in December 2024.
17. There is not a good reason for this delay. Mr X says he was told to wait until the Council and court involvement had ended before complaining. However, had he complained to us at the time, we could have decided whether the ongoing matters prevented us from investigating. The more time that passes after events, the less likely it is we can investigate fairly or achieve a meaningful outcome. Mr X could have raised a formal complaint in October 2023 and brought the matter to us for us to consider further and decide whether we could and should investigate.
18. Mr X’s complaint included some later events, which I have considered as part of the below sections.

The related private proceedings

19. It would also have been reasonable for Mr X to raise all his concerns as part of the private proceedings that were ongoing, in any event.
20. It was the family court, not the Council, that had granted a Child Arrangement Order in June 2023 for the children to live with their mother. While the courts were not involved to analyse the actions of the Council, Mr X had the opportunity to raise his ongoing concerns about the children’s welfare while in their mother’s care as part of those private proceedings. His ongoing concerns about the Council’s involvement with his family were matters he could have raised via his solicitor.
21. The events of 2023 to 2024 are not sufficiently separable from the private proceedings that remained ongoing, and so we will not investigate them.

We could not achieve a meaningful outcome

22. In any event, we could not achieve a meaningful outcome by investigating Mr X’s complaints. We cannot make recommendations relating to personnel matters such as termination of employment and hiring more male social workers. We cannot play a regulatory role in relation to the practice of a particular social worker, and it is open to Mr X to contact Social Work England for this. Mr X ultimately achieved his main aim, of having the children returned to his care, via private proceedings.
23. Where a person’s primary aim is compensation we will normally direct them to the courts. It is not the role of the Ombudsman to assess economic losses and award damages. Only the courts could decide whether the Council is liable to pay Mr X £5,000 to recognise the financial implications he says its actions had.
24. Mr X says he does not have the resources to take court action for compensation. However, it is open to him to ask the courts to make a costs order meaning proceedings, if successful, would not leave him out of pocket.
25. We ultimately cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks and the courts are the appropriate route to seek an award of compensation.

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Final decision

26. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. We cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks, there is not a good reason for the delay in him complaining to us about some elements of the complaint and it was reasonable, in any event, for him to raise all concerns as part of closely related private proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman