East Riding of Yorkshire Council (21 007 493)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Oct 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of foster carers and the placement of the complainant’s children in care. This is because we cannot investigate matters which were decided in court.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss B, complains that the Council was at fault in taking her children into care and failing to properly assess their foster carers.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss B says the Council assessed two relatives as potential carers for her children in 2015. In 2016 the Council obtained full care orders and the children were placed with the relatives. Miss B says that the Council’s assessment of the potential carers indicated there were no police concerns about them. However, checks carried out in connection with an assessment in 2021 indicate that concerns were raised about one of them in 2004 and 2005.
- The Ombudsman cannot investigate Miss B’s complaint because it concerns matters which were decided in court. It was for the court to decide whether Miss B’s children should be placed in foster care. The law says the Ombudsman cannot investigate matters which were decided in court, or evidence put before a court. The matters Miss B complains about fall outside our jurisdiction. If she disagrees with the decisions made on her children’s care, her recourse is to go back to court. We cannot intervene.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Miss B’s complaint because it concerns matters which were decided in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman