Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms X’s complaints which are covered by Court proceedings or inextricably linked to them. We should not investigate her complaint about an officer’s professionalism as there is another body better placed to do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about a Council social worker's behaviour and the Council’s overall attitude towards her.

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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)
3. We have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), 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 there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Ms X provided with her complaint and the Council’s replies which it provided. Ms X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

Background

6. Ms X complains about the behaviour of a Council social worker, Officer Y, whom has been involved in her family for a few years. Ms X says Officer Y gave her child a gift without her permission. She says Officer Y has been unfair towards her and biased in favour of her child’s father.
7. Ms X would like a Court order changed which shared care of her child with their father. She says the Council throughout has not been fair to her and has favoured the father.
8. Ms X complained to the Council. It replied in April 2019 in detail. In August 2019 it confirmed it could not reply to issues which a Court considered.

Analysis

9. We cannot investigate the information given to a Court or its decisions.
10. Our role is to investigate the actions of the Council as a corporate body, not to hold a single officer accountable. If Ms X has concerns about the professionalism or integrity of a social worker, it is reasonable to expect her to report her concerns to their professional body.
11. Social Work England is Officer Y’s professional governing body. It is their role to consider if their ethics code, which covers their professionalism, has been kept to.
12. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

13. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate issues a Court considered and there is another body better placed to consider an officer’s professionalism.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman