The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to a safeguarding referral. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation.
The complaint
Ms X said the Council failed to respond properly to a safeguarding matter where she said her child had been pushed at school by a teacher and sexually assaulted by another pupil. She said the Council wrote a report that was inaccurate and made accusations against her child.
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
The Council’s duty when it receives a safeguarding referral is to decide whether a child has been at risk of serious harm or suffered serious harm. Any safeguarding action is taken only if it decides there is any ongoing risk to a child or other children.
I have seen an unredacted copy of the Council’s report. This stated it had checked the school’s records of incidents. It stated it found no record of any incident matching those reported by Ms X, but instead found records of multiple incidents involving actions by Ms X’s child.
The evidence I have seen leads me to the view that the Council met its duty by considering whether there was any evidence that Ms X’s child had been at risk of significant harm. That Ms X takes a different view is not evidence of fault.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman