The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a child protection assessment. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the content of the Council’s child protection assessment. He said the assessment was biased and discriminated against him. He said the Council had accused him of being violent towards his children which had caused him to lose his confidence in the Council. He wants the Council to delete inaccurate information about him.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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 Council received a child protection referral, stating that Mr X had harmed his child. The Council held a strategy meeting to discuss the concerns. It decided to complete Section 47 safeguarding enquiries. As part of those enquiries, it spoke to his children. They confirmed that Mr X had hurt them. The Council included that information in its assessment. It was satisfied the concerns about Mr X were substantiated.
Although Mr X is unhappy with the content of the assessment, we will not investigate the complaint. The Council has rightly included the views of his children in its assessment. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Mr X is also unhappy about his children being in the care of his ex-partner. He believes that she is unable to care for them. The Council has confirmed it does not have safeguarding concerns about his ex-partners care of his children, and that the reason for the safeguarding involvement was because of his behaviour. It has advised Mr X to seek legal advice around contact arrangements. The Council has considered all available information in making its decision. There is not enough evidence of fault in its actions to justify our involvement.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman