Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement with the complainant’s family. This is because the Council’s actions were in connection with matters which have been considered in court, and this places them outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr X, complains that the Council was at fault in its involvement with his family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X’s children have been the subject of child in need and child protection action, as well as private law proceedings. Mr X complains that the Council has failed to properly investigate his concerns about his children’s welfare and has produced court reports which were biased towards the children’s mother. He further complains that it has failed to properly respond to his subsequent complaint.
6. The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it relates to matters which have been considered and decided in court. When something has been considered in a court, this places it outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This legal restriction allows the Ombudsman no discretion. It is clear that the care and welfare of Mr X’s children were material to the private law proceedings and, by law, we cannot investigate them. This restriction applies to the Council’s actions in relation to the matters.
7. On Mr X’s specific complaint about the court reports produced by the Council’s social worker, courts may ask a council to produce such reports as part of private law. The court will then consider the reports as part of its decision making. Because the reports form part of court proceedings, we have no jurisdiction to investigate their preparation or content.
8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council was at fault in his response to his complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. That is the case here.

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Final decision

9. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns matters which have been considered in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman