Trafford Council (22 016 561)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 26 Mar 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the content of an assessment and a court report written by the Council. The matters complained of are not separable from the conduct of court proceedings.
The complaint
- Mr X said the Council failed to correct an inaccurate assessment despite promising to do so. He said it had since copied the inaccurate information into a s.7 report. He said the Council has failed to respond to his contacts about this.
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)
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), 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 and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The legal bar that prevents us investigating matters not separable from court action is both wide-ranging and permanent. Court action begins when either party contacts a court. It includes any court document.
- A s.7 report is a court-ordered document. Even if it contains inaccurate information copied from an assessment, that information is not separable from court action.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
- The matters complained of are not separable from matters that form part of court action; and
- We cannot investigate how the Council has dealt with a matter that is out of our jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman