Summary: The Ombudsman cannot consider Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s child protection involvement in relation to her daughter, Ms Y’s, children because it lies outside his jurisdiction. This is because these are matters subject to ongoing court proceedings. The law prevents the Ombudsman from considering such matters.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains on behalf of her daughter Ms Y, about the Council’s actions in relation to her children.

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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 can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
5. 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 could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information Mrs X provided and discussed the matter with her over the telephone. I also considered the information the Council provided in response to our initial enquiries. I sent Mrs X a draft of my decision and invited her comments on it.

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What I found

7. Mrs X complains on behalf of her adult daughter, Ms Y, about the Council’s actions and decisions in relation to Ms Y’s children who are currently in foster care. Mrs X says the Council bullied Ms Y into agreeing to section 20 accommodation for her children. The case is currently being considered in ongoing court proceedings. Mrs X says there are also issues with the court ordered contact arrangements.
8. Mrs X says the social worker’s parenting assessment, which has been provided to the court, is full of mistakes. She says the Council has accused Ms Y of things that are not true, and Ms Y has been made to look like a bad mother; which is not the case.
9. The Council has declined to investigate these matters via its complaints procedure due to the ongoing court proceedings, but did respond to Mrs X’s concerns relating to the childrens’ current placements.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate the crux of this complaint. This is because it is about matters which are subject to ongoing court proceedings. The law prevents us from considering matters that are being, or have been, considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.
11. This restriction also applies to reports that are being considered by the court. Any dissatisfaction with the contents of the court report would need to be raised by Ms Y, or her legal representative, in court so the court can consider it before it makes a decision. This is not a matter the Ombudsman can consider. The same restriction applies to any issues with the court ordered contact arrangements.
12. In relation to the matters the Council was able to provide a response on, it is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman would be able to add significantly to the response already provided by the Council. As such, there would be no worthwhile outcome to be achieved by an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman