Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in Miss X’s child’s case. The matter is currently subject to court proceedings. It is open to Miss X to complain again after these have finished.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s involvement in her child’s case. She says the Council’s actions resulted in her son being removed from her care wrongly. She says this has caused significant distress and impacted family relationships. She wants the Council to provide explanations and make service improvements.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 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
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X says the Council’s actions led to her child wrongly being removed from her care. The matter is currently in the family courts. The Council explained to her it will not investigate her complaint at this time, but that it is open to her to complain again after proceedings have finished.
7. We cannot investigate what happens in court, which includes the Council’s representations to the court. There may be elements of Miss X’s complaint that are within our legal remit, however we could not say until the court process has finished which parts we can consider. We could not come to sound conclusions at this time about the impact any fault by the Council had.
8. Miss X has the opportunity to raise her concerns about the Council’s actions as part of the proceedings, insofar as they are relevant to the court’s decision. We could not influence the court’s decision. After the court proceedings have finished, it is open to Miss X to complain to the Council and then to us, if necessary. We can then consider whether we can and should investigate any parts of the complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is about matters that are currently being considered in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman