The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about children services’ actions because there are other bodies better placed to do so.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about Council children services’ officers.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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) We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X’s complaint concerns the actions of the Council’s children services’ team in relation to her grandchildren. She says officers have acted unprofessionally. She says they have refused to provide documents and records she believes she is entitled to. Mrs X complained to the Council.
In reply, the Council explained it could not provide Mrs X with information from the children’s files as she did not have parental responsibility for the children. It told her Social Work England (SWE) was better placed to consider her complaint about officers’ professionalism. It said she needed to make a complaint to its data protection team for any documents or records she believes she is entitled to.
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because: Mrs X does not have parental responsibility for the children the matters concern.
Mrs X’s complaint includes information provided to a Court. We cannot investigate what happens in legal proceedings.
Our role is to investigate the actions of the Council as a corporate body, not to hold a single officer accountable. If Mrs X has concerns about the professionalism or integrity of an individual social worker, it is reasonable to expect her to report her concerns to their professional body, SWE.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights. It promotes openness by public bodies and protects the privacy of individuals. It deals with complaints about public authorities’ failures to comply with data protection legislation. This includes whether bodies should provide records or information.
There is no charge for making a complaint to the ICO, and its complaints procedure is relatively easy to use. Where someone has a complaint about data protection, the Ombudsman usually expects them to bring the matter to the attention of the ICO. This is because the ICO is in a better position than the Ombudsman to consider such complaints.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there are other bodies better placed.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman