The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about children services’ actions as the assessment and tests he wanted could have been ordered by a Court during the proceedings he was involved in.
The complaint
Mr X says the Council’ children services team failed to properly assess his family’s needs and appoint a social worker.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X which included he Council’s reply.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X applied to court for a Child Arrangement Order to set out when he should spend time with his children. During those proceedings CAFCASS prepared a report on his children. In it, they suggested a referral should be made to the Council to assess if it could help the family. The Council says it received a referral but after an assessment decided it should take no further action.
Mr X says the Council should have carried out a more thorough assessment, including alcohol hair strand testing and allocating a social worker.
During Child Arrangement Order proceedings, the Court has wide powers to order assessments of the family. This can include hair strand tests and ordering the Council complete a detailed assessment of the family. Because this complaint overlaps with those proceedings we cannot investigate it.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate issues which are part of court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman