Lancashire County Council

The Ombudsman's final decision

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the conduct of a social worker. This is because there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

The complaint

X complains about how the Council dealt with their complaint about the conduct of a 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 there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) The Ombudsman cannot investigate whether social workers are meeting their professional standards of conduct. Complaints of this nature should be referred to the social workers’ professional body, Social Work England.

How I considered this complaint

I considered information provided by the complainant.

I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

My assessment

I will not investigate X’s complaint. This is because it is about the conduct of a social worker, so Social Work England are better placed to deal with the matter.

I will not investigate how the Council dealt with X’s complaint about this matter. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

Final decision

We will not investigate X’s complaint because Social Work England are better placed to deal with the matter.

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman