Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Miss B’s complaint that the Council removed her daughters from her care on the basis of false allegations. This is because the complaint concerns a decision made in court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss B, complains that the Council removed her daughters from her care on the basis of false allegations.

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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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered what Miss B has said in support of her complaint.

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What I found

5. Miss B says the Council removed her children from her care. She says the she Council’s social worker did so on the basis of false allegations. Miss B did not attend the relevant court hearing but wants the matter revisited.
6. The Ombudsman cannot investigate Miss B’s complaint because it concerns the decision to take her children from her care. This was a decision for the court, not the Council. By law, the Ombudsman cannot consider decisions made by the court or the evidence on which those decisions were based. If Miss B is unhappy with the decision the court made, her recourse is to go back to court. The Ombudsman cannot intervene.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it concerns a decision made in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman