Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Miss X’s family’s case between March 2022 and November 2023. Doing so would not lead to a better or worthwhile outcome. This is because the Council apologised for a delay in making payments and there is no evidence money is still owed, so we would be unlikely to recommend further remedy. The disclosure of data to Miss X’s daughter is a matter the ICO is better placed than us to consider. And the decisions of the Council about where Miss X’s grandchildren were subject to court action, and we are legally prevented from considering them or related matters.

The complaint

1. Miss X said the Council managed her family’s case badly between March 2022 and November 2023.
2. She said the rationale for the Council’s decisions about where a grandchild was to live and who the child could see was faulty. She said it placed the child with her without assessing properly first. She said it failed to tell the family of the risk posed by another adult.
3. Miss X also complained the Council took too long to make payments to her it should have done when she was looking after the child. She said the Council told her daughter how much she was being paid.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

9. We cannot investigate the Council’s actions in deciding where Miss X’s grandchild should live and who it was safe for the child to have contact with, including whether it properly assessed Miss X as an intended carer for her grandchild. The correspondence with the Council Miss X provided showed the matter of the child’s residence and or contact arrangements were subject to court proceedings on more than one occasion in the period covered by the complaint. The court action would have been closely connected to the matters complained of even if they were not directly the subject of the action. The points made by Miss X about the Council’s actions in deciding who could safely have contact with the child could reasonably have been raised in court. We are legally prevented from investigating these matters.
10. What the Council may have told Miss X’s daughter about payments to Miss X is a data matter. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is better placed than us to consider alleged data breaches as it has powers to determine a breach has occurred and to impose penalties. We lack those powers.
11. The Council apologised to Miss X for delay paying her the correct amounts it should have done when looking after her grandchild. It also explained what it found had caused this. However, were we to investigate this matter, we would be unlikely to recommend significantly more than the apology the Council has already provided for the late payments.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. Doing so would be unlikely to lead to a worthwhile outcome because:

• We cannot investigate matters closely connected to decisions about who should; care for a child as there is a legal bar that prevents us doing so;
• Another body is better placed than us to consider an alleged data breach; and
• Investigation of the delay in making correct payments to Miss X would be unlikely to add to the Council’s own investigation or to a significantly different remedy recommendation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman