Newcastle upon Tyne City Council (25 031 728)
Category : Children's care services > Adoption
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 07 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the conduct of the Council’s Independent Reviewing Officer and information they provided in court. The law prevents us from investigating what happened in court. Also, the complaint concerns issues that could reasonably have been considered by the court.
The complaint
- Miss Y complains about the evidence given by the Council’s Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) during a court hearing concerning the adoption of her children. She says the IRO never met her and her children together and made statements that were hurtful, inaccurate and unfair.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We cannot investigate Miss Y’s complaint about the conduct and statements given by the Council’s IRO during court proceedings. The law prevents us from investigating matters that have been subject to court proceedings, and we cannot investigate a decision made by the Court. If Miss Y had concerns about the information the IRO presented to the Court, it would be reasonable for Miss Y to have raised these issues as part of the legal proceedings.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Miss Y’s complaint because it concerns the Council’s conduct during court proceedings. Also, the issues could reasonably have been raised by Miss Y as part of the legal proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman