Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s children services actions. His complaints are inextricably linked with continuing Court proceedings.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, says the Council failed to comply with a Family Assistance Order, has provided inaccurate information to a Court and has made false allegations about him.

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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:
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• 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 Mr X provided. Mr X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

Background

6. Mr X says a Court granted a Family Assistance Order. A Court attached this to a Care Arrangement Order and directed the Council to help with contact arrangements between Mr X’s children and their parents.
7. Mr X says the Council failed to comply with the order. He says the Council misled the Court and failed to be fair. He says he complained to the Health and Care Professions Council about a social worker’s conduct.
8. Mr X says the Court is still considering the children’s care arrangements. The next hearing is due in mid-December.

Analysis

9. We cannot investigate the evidence and information the Council gave the Court which it then relied on to decide the case. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to tell the Court of his concerns about officers’ evidence reliability and flaws.
10. We also will not investigate whether the Council failed to comply with the order as the Court is still considering the children’s care. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to tell the Court of his concerns, if the Council’s actions harmfully affected his relationship with the children.
11. It would be difficult to investigate the social worker’s actions or manner separately from the Court action. Our role is to investigate the actions of the Council as a corporate body, not to hold a single officer accountable. If Mr X has concerns about the professionalism or integrity of an individual social worker, it is reasonable to expect him to report his concerns to their professional body, the Health and Care Professions Council. He has done so and it is not suitable to investigate the same issues they are covering.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not and cannot investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate issues a Court is considering.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman