The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.
The complaint
The complainant, Ms X, complains about the actions of the social worker allocated to the case for her family member’s children.
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 do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) We do not start 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X complained to the Council about the conduct of the social worker allocated to the ongoing case for her family member’s children. The case is subject to ongoing court proceedings.
The Council told Ms X it would not consider her complaint due to the case currently being in court proceedings.
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing proceedings. This is to ensure the court proceedings, which must take precedence over any complaints process, are not prejudiced by a concurrent complaint investigation. It is a decision the Council is entitled to make. Its approach is in line with the statutory guidance for local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints. This guidance gives the Council discretion to decide not to consider complaints where to do so could prejudice any concurrent proceedings, including court proceedings.
It will be open to Ms X to resubmit her complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded. However, the Council has already informed Ms X it may not accept the complaint from her as she does not have parental responsibility for the children involved. This would also be relevant to any complaint made to this office about the substantive matter. We would only accept a complaint with the written consent of a person with parental responsibility for the children. Further to this restriction we cannot consider complaints about any matters that have been considered in court proceedings or which could have been raised and considered during the court proceedings.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman