Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in Miss X’s family’s case. The Council’s involvement was court-ordered, and the law prevents us from investigating what happens as part of court proceedings.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s involvement with her family. She says it did not take her seriously and withheld information from her which meant her children were put at risk. She says it wrongly blamed her in the report it produced for court, and showed a lack of understanding of the impact of events on her mental health. She says the Council breached her confidentiality then refused to investigate the matter. Miss X says this has caused her and her children significant distress. She wants it to acknowledge its failings and provide staff training.

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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. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
5. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Miss X’s complaint is about the Council’s involvement, which began when the court ordered it to produce a report about her children’s welfare. This was to assist the court’s decision-making about contact with their other parent.
9. The law prevents us from investigating what happens in court. This includes the content of Councils’ reports written for court and their actions as part of proceedings.
10. I have considered whether parts of Miss X’s complaint are separable from the court process. Her complaint includes, for example, allegations the Council’s social worker forced her to allow the other parent unsupervised access to the children before the court made a decision. It was open to Miss X to get independent legal advice about this at the time, and to raise the matter during court proceedings.
11. Only the courts, not the Council or the Ombudsman, could make a decision about contact between the children and their other parent.

All elements of Miss X’s complaint are inextricably linked to the court proceedings, because the result of the things she complains about was the recommendations the Council made to the court. The Council’s involvement was prompted by court referral, and all issues Miss X raises could have been mentioned as part of the proceedings. We cannot criticise or change the court's decision.

12. It is open to Miss X to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office about her concern the Council breached her confidentiality, as the body that investigates concerns about how organisations handle people’s data.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is about what happened during court proceedings, which the law prevents us from investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman