Summary: I have not investigated Mr B’s complaints about how the Council facilitated contact with his children, how it assessed the family, and the contents of its assessment. This is because these matters are subject to court proceedings and the law says we cannot investigate them. I also do not intend to investigate Mr B’s complaints about a data breach, or its handling of his requests regarding information. This is because the Information Commissioner is best placed to deal with these matters.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains that the Council:
• Took too long to facilitate his contact with his children and failed to communicate with him properly about this;
• Failed to include him in its child and family assessments; and
• Failed to respond to his requests for information, for amendments to documents and also disclosed his email address to third parties in breach of data rules.
2. Mr B says that as a result of the Council’s actions, he was unable to see his children for some months. This and the way the Council has handled the situation has caused him distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
5. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information provided by Mr B, including the Council’s child and family assessment and his statement to the court about this. I also discussed the issues with Mr B. I considered the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Jurisdiction. Both parties had the opportunity to comment on a draft of this statement. I have considered the comments of both parties before issuing my final decision.

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What I found

What happened

7. Mr B lives separately from his children. He and the childrens’ mother have a court order setting out the arrangements for the children to spend time with each parent, and how the parents communicate about this.
8. Mr B was arrested and released on bail. The Police made it a condition of his bail that he does not see his children unless supervised by the Council. The Council decided it needed to complete a Child and Family assessment to decide how to support the children. It says it attempted to work with Mr B as part of the assessment and tried to facilitate contact with his children. Mr B says it did not include him, and that its suggestions for contact would have breached the court order already in place.
9. In the meantime, the parents made applications to the court to review the contact arrangements. The Council submitted the Child and Family Assessment to the court. The social worker submitted a further statement to the court. The assessment and the statement set out how the social worker tried to facilitate Mr B’s contact with the children, and suggested he was not cooperative. They described the impact on the children of the situation and set out the social worker’s recommendations for contact.
10. Mr B submitted a statement to the court disputing the assessment and the social worker’s statement.
11. Mr B says that in the course of his dealings with the Council it disclosed his email address to the children’s mother and an associate without his permission. He also complains that the Council has not forwarded him recordings of a meeting it had with him despite his requests, and the minutes of another meeting are wrong but the Council will not amend them.

My analysis

12. I cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint about how the Council assessed the children or facilitated his contact with them, because it is about matters already considered by a court.
13. The law says the Ombudsman cannot investigate complaints about the conduct of court proceedings. This is to prevent the Ombudsman from considering matters considered or decided by the court. The Ombudsman’s Guidance on Jurisdiction says that ‘the preparation, collation, and analysis of evidence, including reports written by social workers or other officers for court proceedings (or the use of a report written previously, in subsequent court proceedings) and evidence given by council officers in any proceedings’ are conduct of court proceedings. As such these matters are outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and we cannot investigate.
14. Mr B’s complaint to us about his interactions with the social worker, the contents of the Council’s assessment and its action in facilitating contact with his children, are all matters set out in the Council’s reports to the court and are subject to court proceedings.
15. In response to my draft decision statement, Mr B says the court has been clear that it is not considering the conduct of the social workers, but rather the allegations made by his wife and his response to these. However, this is to inform the court’s decision about future contact arrangements, which is also part of the assessment the Council has submitted to the court.
16. At the heart of Mr B’s complaint is his disagreement with the Council’s view that he did not cooperate with the social worker around contact with the children. I cannot investigate that, without investigating the contents of the assessment and the social worker’s court statement. The court will consider both of these as part of considering the future contact arrangements. And so, although the court will not decide whether there has been fault in the Council’s actions, I cannot investigate these without also investigating the contents of the reports and issues contained in them, that are part of the court proceedings. For this reason, my decision is that Mr B’s complaints about the preparation and analysis of the assessments are outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, and I cannot investigate them.
17. In addition, the Information Commissioner is best placed to deal with Mr B’s complaints about his email address being disclosed in a breach of data protection rules; the Council’s handling of his request to amend minutes under his right to rectification; and whether it has sent him information as requested. As such, I have not investigated these.

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Final decision

18. I have not investigated this complaint because it is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman