Summary: The Ombudsman cannot consider Mr X’s complaint about the contents of the Council’s statement to the Court of Protection because it lies outside his jurisdiction. The law prevents the Ombudsman from investigating matters that have been considered in court proceedings.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about parts of a written statement the Council provided to the Court of Protection in proceedings relating to his daughter.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr X provided. I sent Mr X a draft copy of this statement and considered his comments on it.

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What I found

5. Mr X complains about parts of a statement the Council provided to the Court of Protection. This was in relation to a case about his daughter.

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Final decision

6. We cannot investigate this complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. We cannot investigate matters that have been considered in court. We have no discretion to do so. This restriction also applies to reports which are provided to the court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman