Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint until the ongoing court proceedings have concluded.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about matters relating to the Council’s childrens services involvement with his family.

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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. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (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. Mr X complained to the Council about matters relating to its childrens services involvement with his family and about the actions of a social worker.
7. There are currently ongoing proceedings in the family court.
8. The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint whilst there were ongoing court proceedings. This is because it could impact or prejudice the court proceedings to do so. It said it could consider Mr X’s complaint via its complaints procedure once the court proceedings have concluded.
9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. It is a decision the Council is entitled to make and it has explained this is to ensure that any court proceedings, which take precedence, are not prejudiced.
10. If Mr X remains dissatisfied with the Council’s final response to his complaint once it has considered it then we can assess it to see if it is about a matter we can and should investigate. However, the law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint until the ongoing court proceedings have concluded.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman