Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council. Most of the complaint relates to actions of the School which is outside our jurisdiction. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the support provided by the Council after it placed her children on a Child Protection Plan (CPP). She said the Council was not supporting her relationship with her children’s school (the School). She said the School refused to communicate with her, was not providing the medical support her daughter needed and had failed to respond to a Subject Access Request (SAR).
2. Mrs X also complained about the Council’s decision to place her children on a CPP and the allocated Social Worker’s qualifications. She said the Council failed to respond to their email communication, was wrongly disturbing their children whilst at school and was discriminating against the family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)
5. 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The law says we cannot investigate the actions of schools. The School is responsible for its decisions and actions, not the Council. Therefore, we cannot investigate any complaints set out in paragraph one of this decision.
9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about its decision to place her children on a CPP or the qualifications of the Social Worker. We have previously issued final decisions on these complaints and will not consider them further.
10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council completing Child Protection visits to the children whilst they are at school. The Council’s complaint response sets out the reason for this. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint the Council has not responded to all their emails. That is because any injustice caused is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
12. The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for organisations carrying out public functions to discriminate on any of the nine protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010. We cannot find that an organisation has breached the Equality Act. If Mrs X believes the Council’s actions amount to discrimination, that would be a matter for the Courts.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because most of it is about the actions of the School. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman