The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council’s decision not to investigate his stage two complaint about his child. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s involvement with his child and its refusal to consider his concerns under stage two of the statutory complaint procedure. Mr X wants the Council to properly deal with his complaints and ensure its approach is focussed on his child’s needs and wishes.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We investigate 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 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)) 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
The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
The statutory guidance provides councils discretion to decide not to consider a complaint if it would prejudice concurrent court or tribunal proceedings, disciplinary proceedings or criminal proceedings.
The Council responded to Mr X’s stage one complaint in November 2025. It subsequently declined to consider his stage two complaints under its discretion set out above. The Council wrote to Mr X to explain this in accordance with the statutory guidance.
We will not investigate because there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s handling or decision making in this case to justify our involvement. The Council has complied with the statutory guidance and was entitled to make the discretionary decision it has in this case.
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