London Borough of Croydon (24 013 771)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how a child protection conference was held because doing so would not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains about how a child protection conference was conducted. She says her email wasn’t responded to, she was not properly invited to the meeting, the views of her child were not properly sought, she was interrupted and was insulted by the word “abandoned” being used in relation to her care of her children.
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:
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because I do not consider that further investigation would add to the investigation carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome. In responding to the issues raised the Council apologised that an email wasn’t responded to and for her being interrupted during the conference. The Council fully justified why it didn’t consider it appropriate for her child to attend the conference and explained why the word “abandoned” was used. Whilst Mrs X says she wasn’t properly invited to the conference she was able to attend in time.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because doing so would not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman