The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council has dealt with a complaint about how its children’s services assessed the needs of a child. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will call Mrs X, complains about how the Council’s assessed her child’s needs. Mrs X says the Council has delayed providing a response to her complaint about this matter.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X complained to the Council about how it had assessed the needs of her child. The Council responded at stage one of the statutory procedure for children’s complaints. At the end of July, Mrs X escalated her complaint to stage two, which involves an investigator being appointed as well as an independent person who is responsible for overseeing the investigation.
After Mrs X escalated her complaint, the Council wrote to her and asked her for permission to share information with the investigator and independent person for her complaint to be escalated. The Council has asked her again for permission but has yet to receive a response. It is reasonable for the Council to make this request and we are unable to find fault with the Council for not progressing Mrs X’s complaint until she has given her permission. For this reason I will not investigate this complaint.
If Mrs X still wishes the Council to proceed with its investigation, she will need to contact the Council to give it permission for her information to be shared with the investigator and independent person.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman