Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of a Council officer in carrying out an assessment of the complainant’s son’s needs. This is because investigation would achieve nothing significant.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains that the Council employs family support workers without appropriate qualifications and, as a result, its assessment of her son’s needs was flawed.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. The Council provides social care for Ms X’s son in the form of direct payments. Ms X’s complaint concerns a reassessment carried out by a family support worker which resulted in the reduction of the level of the direct payments.
6. Ms X says she does not wish to dispute the outcome of the assessment. Rather, her complaint concerns the actions of the family support worker who carried it out. She says the officer made an unrealistic plan which, if implemented, would create a safeguarding risk for her son. She says the officer threatened that the payments would be cut further in future if she did not comply.
7. Ms X argues that the fault on the Council’s part could be avoided if it employed family support workers with appropriate qualifications. She says she believes the Council should appoint qualified educational psychologists to assess the needs of disabled children.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because investigation would not achieve anything significant. It is for the Council to decide the level of qualification it seeks when appointing staff, and the Ombudsman cannot comment on its personnel policies. So, investigation would not lead to changes in how the Council appoints family support workers.
9. Neither would investigation lead to a change in the level of support the Council provides for Ms X’s son. Ms X has said she does not wish to challenge the level of direct payments, and the Council has made clear that this will not be reviewed for a further year. There is therefore nothing significant to be gained by the Ombudsman’s intervention

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because investigation would not achieve anything significant.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman