Suffolk County Council (23 016 415)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 05 Mar 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement with the complainant’s family. This is because we cannot consider complaints about matters that were or could be raised in court.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained about the living arrangements for her children. Mrs X is unhappy the Council will not intervene or consider a complaint from her about its involvement.
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)
- We have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint.
- The issue at the heart of Mrs X’s complaint is about the living arrangements for her children. That is a matter for the courts to decide. It is also a matter which has either been discussed in court or could be raised in court. The law prevents us from looking at such things and so Mrs X’s complaint is not one we can consider. Mrs X needs to raise her concerns in court.
- Mrs X is unhappy the Council has not responded to her complaint. The Council says this is because of ongoing legal proceedings. It has also said Mrs X can take her complaint back to the Council when the proceedings are over. It will then consider if there are any parts of her complaint it can look at. Mrs X can then come back to the Ombudsman, and we would decide if an investigation was appropriate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the law prevents us from considering complaints about matters discussed in court or which can be raised in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman