Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement with the complainant’s family. This is because the complaint is about matters considered and decided in court. It is therefore outside our jurisdiction. It is reasonable for Miss X to return to court if she is unhappy with her children’s living arrangements. The actions of the Council’s staff cannot be separated from matters we have no jurisdiction to consider.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X, complained about the involvement of the Council’s children’s services team with her family. Miss X says council staff did not listen to her when it took her children into care. Miss X says the Council should have offered alternatives. She complained about her children’s living arrangements.

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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.
3. 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)
4. 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)
5. The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The Ombudsman cannot consider matters which have been discussed in court or which could reasonably be raised in court. Such matters are outside our jurisdiction. The actions of the Council’s officers are inextricably linked to court action and so we cannot consider them. If Miss X wants to challenge her children’s living arrangements, then she needs to return to court. We cannot decide where her children should live or challenge the court’s decision.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because we cannot consider complaints about what happened in court or where it is reasonable for the complainant to take the matter to court. The actions of the Council’s officers cannot be separated from matters which are outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman