The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the conduct of social workers. Part of the complaint relates to the content of a report for a court and how social workers formed their opinions. These matters are not separable from court action that we cannot investigate. Investigating the remaining matters would be unlikely to lead to a worthwhile outcome, and we cannot not achieve the outcome Mr X wants.
The complaint
Mr X said the Council had failed to carry out the appropriate checks and assessments, to investigate inaccuracies, or to provide evidence of the work it had carried out. He said the harassment and blackmail he suffered from a social worker was only investigated at a very late date, and that the Council had obstructed his complaint so that no concerns would be raised during his hearing. He said the social workers failed to carry out a proper risk assessment before transporting his child in a car seat.
He said the poor quality of a report for the court led to him losing time with his children, and he felt intimidated by the social worker who was ill-mannered and unprofessional.
Mr X wanted the Council to assess the social worker and her manager, and that they should not be allowed to work with children.
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: further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
There have been court proceedings concerning Mr X’s family. The report for the court forms part of those proceedings. We cannot investigate matters that are not separable from the report, including its content, its accuracy, and how social workers formed the opinions contained within it. We cannot consider any injustice flowing from any inaccuracies or other issues with the report.
The remaining matters of complaint involvement some fault by the Council. The Council has accepted that its communication with Mr X was sometimes poor, for example in giving him short notice of a child contact session. It also accepted that the actions of a social worker were sometimes not appropriate. And the Council accepted that it did not choose the correct car seat to transport Mr X’s child.
However, if we investigated those matters, we would be unlikely to recommend a significantly different remedy for the consequent injustice to Mr X than the Council’s apology. And we could not make personnel recommendations to the Council.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because: Part of the complaint concerns matters that are not separable from the conduct of court proceedings and which we cannot investigate; and The remaining matters are ones where investigation by us would be unlikely to lead to a worthwhile outcome. This is because we would be unlikely to recommend a significantly greater remedy for injustice caused by fault than that which the Council has already offered. We also cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman