Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council’s children’s services. This is because some of the matters have been subject to court proceedings and others happened too long ago.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mr C, complains about the actions of the Council’s children’s services. Mr C says the Council has failed to properly deal with safeguarding concerns he raised about his child’s care and has produced inaccurate reports which have been produced in court.

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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 late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr C and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
7. The complainant now has an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I will consider their comments before making a final decision.

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My assessment

8. Mr C has a child who lives with his ex-partner. Access to the child has been decided during several family court hearings.
9. In December 2019, Mr C complained to the Council about the contents of a social work assessment which had been presented to the family court and about how it had responded to safeguarding concerns he had raised about his child’s care. The Council responded in February 2020, but dissatisfied with the response Mr C asked the Council to progress the complaint to stage two of its complaints process.
10. In support of his complaint, Mr C provided the Council with a recording which he said showed that his daughter was being coached by his ex-partner. The Council subsequently produced a further social work assessment which included details about the recording. This assessment was considered by the family courts in a later hearing.
11. The Council responded to Mr C’s complaint and said the recording had been reviewed but it did not agree with Mr C that there was evidence of coaching by his ex-partner. The Council issued its final response to Mr C in July 2020 and told him how he could ask the Ombudsman to investigate further. In June 2021, Mr C brought his complaint to the Ombudsman.
12. I cannot investigate Mr C’s complaint about the contents of social work assessments. This is because the assessments have been considered in court and we cannot investigate anything that has been subject to court proceedings. I also cannot investigate the Council’s assessment of the recordings Mr C provided because this were also included in one of the assessments considered in court.
13. I will not investigate Mr C’s complaint about how the Council dealt with safeguarding concerns he raised about his daughter’s care. The last of the safeguarding concerns Mr C complained to the Council about was in February 2019. This is because it happened too long ago.
14. Whilst Mr C did complain to the Council within twelve months of this, he received a final response from the Council in July 2020 but did not ask the Ombudsman to investigate for a further 10 months. I see no reason why he could not have complained to the Ombudsman sooner.

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Draft decision

15. Subject to any comments Mr C might make, my view is we should not investigate this complaint. This is because the matters raised have either been subject to court proceedings or happened too long ago.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman