The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to disclosures made by the complainant’s child. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part to warrant our intervention.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains that the Council failed to treat disclosures made by his daughter as a child protection matter.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complains that the Council failed to act on disclosures made by his daughter. He says it was at fault in deciding that the matter did not meet the threshold for safeguarding action without his involvement or that of his child. He wants the Council to reconsider the matter and agree to provide support for his child.
The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. It is not for us to take a view on whether the circumstances of the case warrant child protection action. That is a matter for the professional judgment of the Council’s officers. The question for us is whether there is evidence of fault in the way they exercised this judgement. There is no such evidence.
The complaint correspondence shows that the matter was initially triaged and held not to meet the threshold for intervention. On receipt of information from Mr X, a more senior officer reviewed the case and decided that the new evidence did not change the Council’s view.
Mr X disagrees with the Council’s decision. But that does not mean it amounts to fault. In the absence of evidence that officers were at fault in the way they made their decision, we cannot criticise their judgement or intervene to substitute an alternative view.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman