The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of social workers because we could not achieve anything significant by doing so.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr B, complains that the Council’s social workers have been at fault in their actions towards him and his family.
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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr B says a third party made a malicious referral to Children’s Services about his family. He says a social worker then produced an inaccurate report without giving him the opportunity to challenge it, and that this led to his daughter being made subject to a child protection plan. In response to his complaint, the Council has apologised that it delayed sending Mr B the report. It has also offered to place a record of its dissenting views on the file.
Mr B further complains about his family’s new social worker. He wants the actions of both social workers to be investigated and his daughter removed from the child protection plan.
The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because we cannot achieve anything significant by doing so. The decision to make Mr B’s daughter subject to a child protection plan was for the child protection conference to make and the Ombudsman cannot change it. Our intervention would not result in the ending of the plan and would not therefore lead to a different outcome.
If Mr B wants to pursue his concerns about the two social workers, it is open to him to bring them to the attention of Social Work England.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because we could not achieve anything significant by doing so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman