Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about evidence the Council provided to the Court of Protection. This is because the law does not allow us to investigate what happened in court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council provided a false account of an incident involving his mother which influenced a decision by the Court of Protection about her capacity to make decision. Mr X says that following this his mother was placed in a care home where she passed away.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Court of Protection deals with decision-making for adults who may lack capacity to make specific decisions for themselves.
6. The Court of Protection may need to become involved in difficult cases or cases where there are disagreements that cannot be resolved in any other way. The Court of Protection:
• decides whether a person has capacity to make a particular decision for themselves
• makes declarations, decisions or orders on financial or welfare matters affecting people who lack capacity to make such decisions
• appoints deputies to make decisions for people lacking capacity to make those decisions
• decides whether a Lasting Power of Attorney or Enduring Power of Attorney is valid, and
• removes deputies or attorneys who fail to carry out their duties.
7. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint as this about evidence which was considered by the court. As set out in paragraph 2, the law does not allow us to investigate complaints about what happened in court.

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Final decision

8. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is about something which happened in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman