Hertfordshire County Council (21 007 087)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Oct 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the complainant’s children being removed from his care. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is about matters that have been considered and decided in court proceedings. The law prevents us from considering such matters, and we have no discretion to do so.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains his children have been removed from his care. This matter has been considered and decided in public law proceedings. Mr X says the social worker lied and did not do her job properly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X recently complained to the Council about this. The Council responded explaining it was not a matter it could consider via the complaints process. This is because it was about a matter that had been considered and decided in court proceedings which concluded earlier this year.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. This is because it is made in relation to matters that have been the subject of court proceedings. The law prevents us from considering such matters. We have no discretion to do so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman