Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s child protection involvement with her family because it lies outside our jurisdiction. This is because the matter has been considered in court proceedings.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with her family. The court recently granted an Interim Care Order. Miss X says her family feels threatened and the Council is working under false allegations and has not provided proof of its claims.

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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 do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Miss X complained to the Council about its child protection involvement with her family. Miss X said her family felt threatened by the Council to comply with a child protection plan without the reasons being explained. Miss X says the Council is working under false allegations.
8. This matter has been subject to recent court proceedings and the court has granted an Interim Care Order.
9. We cannot investigate this complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. This is because the law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court. We have no discretion to do so. Any dissatisfaction with the court’s decision would need to be returned to the court or raised during the proceedings. We cannot consider it.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman