Westminster City Council (21 016 941)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Mar 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a report the Council produced for Court proceedings. We cannot investigate Court proceedings.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s children services team’s report and the way it replied to his complaint.
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)
- The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by a council concerning a matter which is outside our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says the Council chose the wrong officer to complete a Children Act section seven report. He says the report is wrong and unfair.
- As part of private law proceedings involving children, the court may ask the Council to produce a section seven report. The court will then consider the report as part of its decision making.
- Because section seven reports form part of court proceedings, we cannot investigate their preparation or content.
- We cannot investigate how the Council replied to Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate the complaint itself.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the report he complains of is part of Court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman