The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Mr X’s safeguarding concerns about his children. That is because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council failed to take appropriate safeguarding action after he raised concerns about his children. He also said that information contained in the Council’s case records was incorrect and biased.
He said the Council’s actions had contributed to him not being able to see his children. He wants the Council to complete an investigation into his concerns and amend its records.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X contacted the Council several times as he had concerns about his ex-wife’s care of their children.
In the Council’s complaint response, it confirmed it had considered the information Mr X provided, but it did not meet the threshold for social care involvement. The case records demonstrate the Council discussed the concerns with Mr X’s ex-wife and it was satisfied that no additional support was needed.
The Council also addressed Mr X’s concerns about information contained in its case records that he thought was inaccurate and biased. It clarified some information was provided by other organisations as part of a referral therefore it was not the Council’s words. It explained that other quotes Mr X had queried needed to be read within the context of the wider sentence or paragraph.
Although Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s decision, we will not investigate this complaint further. That is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council considered Mr X’s safeguarding referral to justify our involvement. The Council made appropriate checks and satisfied itself that there were appropriate care arrangements in place.
The Council has also addressed Mr X’s concerns about the information it has on its case records. Although Mr X disagrees with the content of some of that information, there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our investigating this further.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman