Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss B’s complaint that Council officers have lied in the course of care proceedings, and have declined to give her support during her pregnancy. This is because the law prevents us investigating what happens in court, and we cannot achieve the outcome Miss B wants.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss B, complains that Council officers have lied in the course of care proceedings, and have declined to give her support during her pregnancy.

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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 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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 and relevant correspondence provided by the Council. I have offered Miss B the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

5. Miss B’s daughter is subject to care proceedings. Miss B complains that the Council’s social worker has lied in court, and that the Council has failed to take her concerns into account.
6. Miss B further complains that the Council has failed to give her support during her pregnancy. She wants it to provide this support and not to try to take her new baby into care.
7. The Ombudsman cannot investigate matters relating to the care proceedings, because they will be decided in court. By law we cannot consider evidence given in court. It is for the court to decide what weight to give to the evidence before it and the Ombudsman cannot intervene.
8. With regard to the Council’s response to Miss B’s pregnancy, the Ombudsman cannot achieve the outcome Miss B is seeking. The correspondence the Council has provided shows that it has said it will consider the matter once it receives a referral from the health professionals. On the face of it, this is a reasonable position, and it is unlikely we would find that it amounts to fault. We will not speculate on what action may be appropriate in future and cannot ask the Council to take a view on possible future care proceedings. We cannot therefore achieve what Miss B wants.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot consider matters which have been decided in court, and cannot achieve the outcome Miss B wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman