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 whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint about a social worker whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. Mr X says his complaint has no bearing on the court proceedings.

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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 the conduct of a social worker who is allocated to his childrens’ case.
7. The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint now because there are currently criminal proceedings and court proceedings ongoing. It explained its complaints procedure does not operate whilst legal proceedings are ongoing and so it would not consider it. It advised Mr X to raise his concerns with his legal representative.
8. 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. This is in order to ensure the court proceedings, which must take precedence, are not prejudiced by any complaint investigation.
9. The Council has acted in line with its complaints policy which states: ‘The Council has discretion in deciding whether to consider complaints where doing so may prejudice the following concurrent investigations: Court proceedings, Tribunals, Appeals, Disciplinary proceedings, Criminal proceedings.’
10. In line with the Council’s complaints policy it will be open to Mr X to ask the Council to consider his complaint about any matters not subject to the proceedings once the court proceedings have concluded. This should be done within one year of the conclusion of the proceedings.
11. If Mr X does complain to the Council following the proceedings and remains dissatisfied with its final response then we can assess his complaint 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 proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault by the Council.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman