The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to the behaviour of a social worker.This is because we could not add anything to the previous investigation by the Council or achieve anything further through another investigation.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, complains about the actions of his son’s former social worker, and about the Council’s investigation and response to his complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and by the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s investigation into his complaint about the actions of his son’s previous social worker, S, when S visited their home. He feels that the initial investigation should not have been carried out by the Team Leader but by someone from outside of the Team. It is however, normal practice for a Team Leader to have responsibility for dealing with complaints at an initial stage. There is no evidence to suggest the Team Leader did not look at the complaint appropriately.
Mr X is also dissatisfied at the bad language and perceived threats made by S being described as “banter,” as he says he found them unprofessional and upsetting. The Council’s response, however, does not say that this was how it viewed the comments. It says that this is how S accounted for them, but the Council did not agree with S, and it upheld the complaint. There is nothing further that we could add to this.
The Council also said that appropriate action would be taken, but Mr X remains unhappy as he says he has seen no evidence of such action. I have asked the Council for more information on this point and it has satisfied me that it has taken appropriate action. I cannot share the details of this action with Mr X, however, due to data protection.
Mr X, in addition, said that he was promised an apology, and he wants a written apology from S to him and to his son. We would not regard this as appropriate. We would expect the Council, as a corporate body, to apologise for its failings, which it has done in the complaint response. We do not pursue complaints about individuals, but expect the Council to take responsibility for their actions.
Although Mr X would like the LGSCO to undertake another investigation and provide a further remedy for his emotional distress, we would not be able to achieve anything further through investigation, and would not consider an additional remedy to be appropriate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is nothing further that investigation by the LGSCO would achieve.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman