The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about children services’ actions as the Court decided the child’s care. Social Work England is better placed to consider his complaint about social workers’ professionalism.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about children services’ actions.
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 there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X which included a Council reply to him.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says his child is in the process of being adopted. He disagrees with the decisions made about his child’s care and the Council’s view of him. He says the Council has not assessed him properly and has failed to meet Court orders about providing evidence. He says the social workers involved in the case have acted unprofessionally.
We cannot investigate the decisions made about the child’s care. The Court made those decisions. We also cannot investigate the evidence the Council gave the Court, both the content of it and how it assessed Mr X.
Our role is to investigate the actions of the Council as a corporate body, not to hold a single officer accountable. If Mr X has concerns about the professionalism or integrity of an individual social worker, it is reasonable to expect him to report his concerns to their professional body, Social Work England.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate events and decisions which have been involved in Court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman