The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s children’s services involvement with X’s family. This is because we cannot achieve the outcome that X is seeking.
The complaint
X complains about the actions of a social worker during child protection enquiries. X would like the Council to allocate their family with a new social worker.
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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (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
I will not investigate X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome they are seeking. It is for the Council and not the Ombudsman to decide which social workers are allocated to which case.
Final decision
We will not investigate X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome X is seeking.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman