Cafcass failed to investigate and respond to a complaint properly

What happened

Mr D made an application to a court about where his child would live. The Cafcass officer arranged a meeting with him. Mr D had to travel a long way from where he lived to attend the meeting. Mr D was unhappy about this, the delayed start to the meeting, and also what happened during and after the meeting. The Cafcass officer interviewed Mr D's partner, who was also upset about the Cafcass officer's conduct. The Cafcass officer prepared two reports for the court and Mr D was not happy about what the reports said. Although those issues were resolved before the case was heard in court, Mr D was upset that the Cafcass officer was involved on the day of the court hearing.

Mr D and his partner complained to Cafcass. Cafcass responded to Mr D's complaint but said that it would not investigate his partner's complaint because she was not a party in the proceedings.

What we found

We agreed it was more appropriate for Mr D's complaints about the content of the reports to be raised in court. However, Cafcass did not contact Mr D as it should have done when it prepared the second report. The apology Cafcass had already offered was an appropriate remedy.

There were no failings to the arrangements for the meeting or what happened during or after the meeting. However, Cafcass did not properly investigate Mr D's complaints about the delay to the start of the meeting. There were no faults in the actions of the Cafcass officer on the day of the hearing.

It was unfair that Cafcass did not investigate Mr D's partner's complaint, and this was an injustice to her that had not been put right.

Putting it right

Cafcass apologised to Mr D for not properly investigating his complaint and not investigating his partner's complaint. It also reviewed Mr D's partner's complaint and the way it handles complaints from people who are not party to proceedings.