Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s children services team’s assessment and approach to her. This is because the Court is considering her children’s care arrangements.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, says the Council failed to assess her family properly and failed to deal with her fairly.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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What I found

5. Ms X is in dispute with her children’s father about their children’s care. The Court is considering this. Ms X says the next hearing is in December.
6. Ms X says the Council’s children services team has assessed the family unfairly. She says it did not properly consider her. She says it made inappropriate comments to her.
7. Ms X says the children’s father has provided the Court with the Council’s assessment as part of his case.

Analysis

8. We cannot investigate the same issues a Court is considering. The Court is considering the children’s care arrangements which means we cannot investigate the Council’s views on this.
9. We cannot investigate the preparation, collation, and analysis of evidence, including reports written by social workers or other officers for court proceedings. This includes the use of a report written previously, in subsequent court proceedings.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the Court is considering the children’s care arrangements.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman