Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement with the complainant’s family. This is because the complaint is about matters considered and decided in court. It is therefore outside our jurisdiction. It is reasonable for Mr X to return to court if he is unhappy with his children’s living arrangements. The actions of the Council’s staff cannot be separated from matters we have no jurisdiction to consider.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complained about the involvement of the Council’s children’s services team with his family. Mr X accuses council officers of writing inaccurate court reports, providing false testimonies in court, professional misconduct, and of failing to properly support his family. He is unhappy about his children’s living arrangements. The Council has said it will not consider a complaint from Mr X because it relates to ongoing court action.

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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 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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Ombudsman cannot consider matters which have been discussed in court or which can reasonably be raised in court. Such matters are outside our jurisdiction. The actions of the Council’s officers are inextricably linked to court action and so we cannot consider them. Mr X has been represented in legal proceedings and the court decided the living arrangements for his children. If Mr X wants to challenge these arrangements, then he needs to return to court. We cannot decide where his children should live or challenge the court’s decision.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot consider complaints about what happened in court or where it is reasonable for the complainant to take the matter to court. The actions of the Council’s officers cannot be separated from matters which are outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman