The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about children services’ actions. It is unlikely we would find fault in its decision to assess the family. We cannot investigate the Police or midwives’ actions. And we cannot consider the same issues a Court is considering.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about children services actions.
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 of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about action taken by or on behalf of any local policing body in connection with the investigation or prevention of crime. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, Section 26, paragraph 2 as amended) We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as midwives. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to us the Council had failed to reply to his complaint.
Mr X complained to the Council in January 2022 about the Council assessing him and his pregnant partner. The Council replied that month and explained as it had received a referral it was important to check the family would be safe for the baby.
Mr X was unhappy with the Council’s reply. The Council replied at stage two of its corporate complaints’ procedure in November 2022, after Mr X had complained to us. It apologised for the delay.
If Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s stage two response we will not investigate his complaint because: Mr X says the Police involved the Council when considering his situation. We cannot investigate this. It is the Police’s decision.
Mr X says midwives involved the Council in a meeting. We cannot investigate who attended midwives’ meetings.
The contact Mr X should have with the baby is now the subject of court proceedings. Mr X says the Council encouraged his partner to go to Court. We cannot investigate this. Why there are Court proceedings, is integral to those proceedings. We cannot investigate the information the Council gives the Court.
Councils have a duty to investigate if there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. They must decide whether they should take any action to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare. (Children Act 1989, section 47). We are unlikely to criticise the Council for doing so in Mr X’s case given the referrals made. The assessment was comparatively brief and closed within around a month.
The Council apologised for the delay in replying to Mr X’s complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate parts of it and we are unlikely to criticise its decision to assess his family.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman