The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint of bias by the Council. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement. It is also reasonable for Mr X to apply to the court if he wants contact with his children. Neither we nor the Council can achieve this outcome for Mr X.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has placed his children with abusers. He believes the Social Worker allocated to his children has acted with bias against him. He wants the Council to reopen the case, allocate another Social Worker and explain why it has not safeguarded his children.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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 responded to Mr X’s complaints in late August 2024. It explained it had found no evidence of bias by the allocated Social Worker but invited Mr X to provide any evidence or further details about this for it to investigate further. The Council did not uphold Mr X’s other complaints and declined his request for another Social Worker. It also advised Mr X to make an application to the court for access to his children. Since then, the Council says it has received approximately 30 emails from Mr X asking for contact with his children.
We will not investigate because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement. Any arrangements about care and contact of children is a private matter between the people who have parental responsibility. Where those people cannot agree on those arrangements, only the court has the power to intervene and make decisions about what arrangements would be in the child(ren)’s best interests and on any matters of dispute.
We will not investigate this complaint because neither we nor the Council can make decisions about Mr X’s contact with his children. It would be reasonable for Mr X to take this matter to court.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault and it would be reasonable for him to take his concerns to court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman