The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate X’s complaint about the Council’s children’s services involvement with his family, or its refusal to consider his complaint. Social Work England is better placed to consider the substantive matters, and we would be unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision to refuse the complaint.
The complaint
X complains about the Council’s children’s services involvement with his grandchildren. X specifically complains about the conduct of social workers.
X says the matters pose a risk to his grandchildren’s safety.
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 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, or there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) We look at organisational fault, not individual professional competence. Decisions about individual’s fitness to practise or work are for the organisations concerned, and for professional regulators, not the Ombudsman. (Local Government Act 1974, s26(1) and s26A(1) as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
X complained about the conduct of social workers involved with his grandchildren. X said he had concerns about their safety.
The Council refused to accept X’s complaint under the Children Act statutory complaints procedure. It said this was because X does not hold parental responsibility for the children and the matters complained about were subject to court and police involvement.
We would be unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision to refuse this complaint.
Statutory guidance does not give a grandparent an automatic right to raise a complaint. Councils have discretion to consider whether a person has sufficient interest in the child’s welfare. The available evidence shows the Council considered its discretion but said it would require consent from somebody who holds parental responsibility. We would be unlikely to find fault here.
Statutory guidance also gives councils discretion to refuse a complaint if the matters are subject to court or criminal proceedings. Given there is court and police involvement in these matters, we would be unlikely to find fault in its refusal to consider this complaint.
In any case, as outlined in paragraph four, it is not our role to consider professional competence. X’s concerns are about the conduct of social workers. His concerns would therefore be better placed with Social Work England (SWE). SWE is the social work regulator and has powers to investigate the conduct of social workers.
Final decision
We will not investigate X’s complaint because Social Work England is better placed to consider the substantive matters and there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to refuse the complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman