The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a children services officer not supervising Mr X’s contact with his child. There are ongoing related Court proceedings within which it is reasonable to expect Mr X to raise this. Also, he has not been caused any injustice by the lack of supervision.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, says the Council had insisted his contact with his child be supervised. He says the Council then left him with his child and a grandparent in a hospital unsupervised.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended) We have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended) 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: any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council in December 2021 that a Council officer had left him, and a grandparent, unsupervised with his child in a hospital. He says this shows they do not consider him to be a risk. He says this shows the Council is neglecting its duties.
The Council replied to Mr X’s complaint and said that current Court care proceedings would cover these issues and it would not be appropriate for the complaints procedure to do so as well.
It is reasonable to expect Mr X to tell the Court if he feels this incident shows that the Council’s Court case is flawed.
Mr X has not been caused any direct injustice by the lack of supervision.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to tell the Court if he feels the incident detrimentally affects the Council’s case. And there is no injustice caused to him by the unsupervised contact.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman