Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because an investigation by this office could not add to the response the Council has already provided which explains the ongoing court proceedings need to conclude before it can consider her complaint via its complaints procedure.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about the Council’s actions in relation to her and her young child who is currently in foster care.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We do not start an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Ms X complained to the Council about its actions in relation to her and her young child who is currently in foster care. The case is subject to ongoing court proceedings.
9. The Council informed Ms X it cannot consider her complaint at this time. This is because it could be prejudicial to the ongoing court proceedings to do so. It advised Ms X to raise her concerns with her legal representative. It has informed Ms X she can resubmit her complaint once the court proceedings have concluded.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because there is nothing further an investigation by this office could add to the Council’s response explaining that in order not to prejudice the ongoing court proceedings it cannot consider her complaint until the proceedings have concluded. There is no sign of fault in this approach.
11. If Ms X remains dissatisfied with the Council’s final response to her substantive complaint, once it has considered it, then we can assess it to see if it is a matter we can and should investigate. However, there may be matters we cannot consider as the law prevents us from considering complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman