The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about care of his son, Mr D, following a day out. This is because further investigation could not add to the Council’s response or make a different finding.
The complaint
Mr B complained that his son, Mr D, looked unhappy on return to his placement following a day out with him. Mr B says he has only seen Mr D once this year despite a court order saying he should see him twice a month and has not met with his social worker for three years. Mr B says he continues to complain but the Council does not do anything about it.
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) We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, 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
The court determined what access Mr B should have. If the Council is refusing to arrange access for Mr D to meet with Mr B as the court has instructed, he can ask the court to consider this further. We cannot consider any matters which have been before a court. Mr B can also ask the court to consider his concerns about not meeting Mr D’s social worker. This is because the Council says Mr D’s social worker has invited Mr B to meet with her to discuss Mr D but Mr B has not taken up this offer. We could not add to this or make a different finding. Mr B can contact the Young People’s Team if he wants to be involved in discussions about Mr D.
Mr B complained Mr D looked distressed when returning home after a day out The Council has explained why this may have been the case, reassured Mr B Mr D was thirsty and was fine after having a drink. The Council apologised this was not communicated to him at the time. We could achieve no more than this even if we investigated.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because further investigation could not add to the Council’s response or make a different finding.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman