Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (23 014 997)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Feb 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint that the Council is at fault in preventing the complainant from having contact with his children. This is because the matter has been considered in court.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr X, complains that the Council is at fault in preventing him from having contact with his children.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X’s children live with their mother. He has no direct contact with them. The evidence Mr X has provided shows that the issue of contact has been considered by the Court, and that the Court has decided that Mr X should carry out work before contact with the children could resume.
- Mr X says he is unable to carry out the work the Court requires him to do because he is ineligible for the courses the Council has offered. He complains that the Council has therefore prevented him from reestablishing contact with the children.
- The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns matters which have been considered and decided in court. The law prevents us from considering such matters, or anything closely related to them.
- The evidence shows that contact was considered by the Court as recently as June 2023. The Court took the view that Mr X had not taken the necessary action, but that it was open to him to do so. By law, the Ombudsman cannot intervene. If Mr X believes the Council is unreasonably preventing him from carrying out the work the Court requires, his recourse is to go back to the Court. There is no role for the Ombudsman.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns a matter which has been considered in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman