Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council’s children’s services. This is because most of the matters complained of have relate to decisions taken in a court and are out of our jurisdiction. There is no fault in the Council’s actions regarding other issues.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr J, says that:
• Reports produced by officers of the Council for court are inaccurate;
• The officers told lies in court;
• The Council has unfairly restricted its contact with him;
• The Council has not made Reasonable Adjustments for his difficulties; and
• The Council has not investigated properly his complaints about these matters.

Back to top

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 investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered the information provided by Mr J and by the Council. I have also sent Mr J an initial view for his comments, which I also considered carefully.

Back to top

What I found

6. Mr J says that the Council’s social services have worked with CAFCASS to produce reports for court which are inaccurate.
7. He further says that the officers involved have told lies about him in court.
8. He says that he has complained to the Council, but it has not considered his complaints properly and has not taken disciplinary action against the officers, as he feels it should have done.
9. Mr J has now complained to the Ombudsman, but we are unable to investigate the complaint. This is because the substantive matter relates to issues that have formed part of court proceedings. It is therefore out of our jurisdiction.
10. Consequently we would also not be able to achieve Mr J’s desired outcome of having his children returned. Only a court can do that.
11. Additionally Mr J says that the Council did not investigate his complaint properly because it did not take action against the social workers. We do not consider complaints about the complaints process where we are not investigating the substantive matter. Were we to do so, we would not be able to achieve Mr J’s further desired outcome of disciplinary action against the officers involved, as we look at complaints about the Council as a corporate body rather than about individual officers’ actions. I understand that Mr J has referred this matter to the Health and Care Professionals’ Council, which is the correct forum for such complaints.
12. Mr J has further complained that the Council has now restricted his contact with it. The Council says that this is due to a high number of over-long phone calls to officers who are unable to help Mr J with his complaint. Mr J complains that this amounts to refusing him Reasonable Adjustments for the difficulties that he has in organising his thoughts, but the Council says it is because he continues to contact inappropriate staff who are unfamiliar with his needs and cannot deal with his contacts. It says that his contact needs to be restricted to appropriate officers only, who do understand his needs and are able to give him the time and support that her needs. There is no fault in this approach.
13. The Council also says that Mr J is unable to contact the social workers who were involved with his children because he sent them abusive texts and calls. This issue has now been considered by a court which has ordered an injunction against Mr J contacting the officers. This element of the complaint is therefore out of our jurisdiction.

Back to top

Final decision

14. I cannot investigate this complaint. This is because most of the complaint is out of jurisdiction due to court proceedings. There is no fault in the other issues complained of.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman