The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s responses to a safeguarding matter in 2020. The matters complained of are either not separable from criminal matters, or from the conduct of court proceedings. We cannot achieve the outcome Ms X is seeking.
The complaint
Ms X said the Council failed to respond properly to a safeguarding referral after her ex-partner assaulted their children in an incident at a hospital in 2020. She said the Council failed to speak to her or the children, and she later found out the Council did not report the matter to the police, which has made it impossible to bring criminal proceedings. She said it failed to deal properly with her complaint about this.
She wanted the Council to report the matter to the police and apologise.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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 cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) 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.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Although Ms X said there had been no court action about the specific matters complained of, the information she sent us showed there was a court case a few months after the incident regarding her children that resulted in a court order concerning contact. The suitability of her former partner as a parent would have been a key matter in the court action. As such, it would have been reasonable to raise the matter of the hospital incident and the Council’s reaction it in court.
The matter of whether the Council contacted Ms X or her children after the incident is also late. Ms X would have been aware she had not been contacted and could have approached us sooner.
Ms X said she only became aware that the Council had not contacted the police when she contacted the police recently. Her discovery was recent, so it is not a late matter. However, Ms X could have reported the matter to police herself at the time. If she did so, the actions of the police, including contacting the Council, would not be a matter within our jurisdiction. Ms X’s desired outcome is also not something we could achieve. We could not recommend the Council contacts the police as we have no jurisdiction to make recommendations regarding possible criminal matters.
The complaint about the Council’s response to the complaint does not warrant investigation as we will not investigate the substantive matters complained of.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because: Much of it concerns matters that were or could reasonably have been raised during court proceedings; Much of the complaint is late, and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate the late matters now; We could not achieve the outcome Ms X is seeking because we cannot make recommendations about alleged criminal matters; and It would not be a good use of public resources to investigate the Council’s complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive matters complained of.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman