Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to Miss X’s children. We could not come to sound conclusions at this time because care proceedings are ongoing.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to her children’s case. Her concerns include the Council:
• lied in court and defamed her with false allegations.
• has been biased towards the father of her children.
• failed to safeguard her children and prevented her contact with them.
2. Miss X says the matter has caused her significant distress, damaged her relationship with her children and financially impacted her due to her career prospects being harmed. She wants the Council to accept responsibility and make service improvements. She wants the relevant social worker suspended and contact arrangements to be made for her to see her children. She also wants financial compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

6. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

9. Miss X’s children are currently subject to ongoing care proceedings. Some parts of Miss X’s complaints are about the Council’s actions as part of those proceedings. The law prevents us from investigating matters considered or decided by the courts, and the Council’s actions during proceedings. This includes the content of any reports the Council produces for the courts. We also cannot investigate the Council’s decision to begin care proceedings.
10. There may be parts of Miss X’s complaint within our jurisdiction, for example events before court proceedings began. However, until the outcome of the ongoing proceedings is known, we could not come to sound conclusions about any fault by the Council or the impact it had on Miss X. Nor can we say with certainty at this time which elements of her complaint are within our jurisdiction.
11. We cannot influence court proceedings, and Miss X should raise her concerns as part of the proceedings insofar as they impact the outcome. It is open to Miss X to bring her complaint back to the Ombudsman after the court process has finished and after she has complained directly to the Council. We can then decide whether we can investigate any matters that Miss X complains about, or whether the whole complaint is inextricably linked to the proceedings.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is about matters that are currently being considered by the courts.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman