Torbay Council (19 013 268)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 24 Feb 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint about the complainant and his family no longer being allowed to have contact with his grandchild. This is because, it concerns a decision made in private law proceedings, and lies outside our jurisdiction.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I shall refer to as Mr X, complains that he and his family are no longer allowed to have contact with his grandchild. He believes this is a result of ‘collusion’ between the Council and the ‘special guardian’ carers of his grandchild.
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)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered the information provided by the complainant. I spoke to the complainant and made an inquiry to the Council.
What I found
- A special guardianship order is an order appointing individuals to be a child’s ‘special guardian’. It is a private law order made under the Children Act 1989.
- Special guardians have parental responsibility for a child.
- Mr X is the grandparent of the child in question. He has told me that his family is taking court action to ensure a previous court order setting out the contact arrangements is upheld.
- As Mr X’s complaint concerns matters decided in the courts, we are prohibited from investigating.
- Mr X continues to assert the Ombudsman should investigate his belief in ‘collusion’ between the Council and the special guardians.
- Mr X can raise this in court as part of his current legal action. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this issue on its own as I believe it cannot be separated from his substantive complaint concerning contact arrangements.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman cannot investigate. This is because Mr X’s complaint concerns decisions made in the courts.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman