Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the actions of a social worker. This is because those actions relate to matters which have been decided in a court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss X, complains that the Council failed to complete relevant and robust safeguarding checks when considering her daughter’s welfare.

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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. 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)
3. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by a council concerning a matter which is outside our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X’s daughter is the subject of private legal proceedings. In the course of the proceedings, the Court directed the Council to carry out a risk assessment relating to the issue of contact between Miss X’s daughter and her father. The evidence shows that the Council did so in the context of a child and family assessment, after which the risk assessment was presented to the Court.
7. Miss X complains about the conduct of the social worker during the assessment and about the conclusions she reached. In her view, the social worker was biased towards her daughter’s father and failed to properly consider her daughter’s welfare. She further complains that the social worker encouraged her daughter’s father to breach a court order.
8. The Ombudsman cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because it concerns matters which have been decided in court. The law prevents us from considering evidence presented to a court and how this evidence was produced. The fact that the assessment the social worker produced was material to the legal proceedings places its content, and how it was produced, outside our jurisdiction.
9. If Miss X believes a court order was breached, her recourse is to take the matter back to court. There is no role for the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because it concerns matters which have been decided in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman