Birmingham City Council (24 005 089)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 01 Sep 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate X’s complaint about a social worker’s private actions. Social Work England and the Police are better placed.
The complaint
- X says that a Council social worker, physically assaulted them. They say this has affected their child’s health.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by X which included Social Work England’s (SWE) decision.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- X says that in July 2023 a Council social worker assaulted them. They reported the incident to the Council, the Police and SWE. The latter decided in June 2024 not to take any further action.
- X says the incident affected their child’s health. Which in turn affected them. X would like the officer suspended and a further investigation carried out.
- We will not investigate this complaint because:
- We cannot investigate allegations of criminal behaviour such as physical assaults. This is the Police’s role.
- The incident did not happen whilst the social worker was acting on behalf of the Council. It happened during their private time.
- Our role is to investigate the actions of the Council as a corporate body, not to hold a single officer accountable. SWE is the body which considers the professionalism or integrity of an individual social worker. X complained to that body. We should not investigate just because SWE has decided to take no further action.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint because other bodies are better placed to do so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman