Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in response to Mr X’s child protection concerns regarding his children. The matters complained of are closely related to the care arrangements for the children, which have been subject to court action. These matters either have been, or could reasonably have been raised during court action. A legal bar prevents us investigating them.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to assist his family, withdrawing support at a critical time, and did not keep the promises it made. He said it failed to respond properly to child protection concerns he raised, and to the matters his children reported. He said the Council wrongly advised him to go to court, then gave the court inaccurate data about him, and failed to correctly operate its complaint procedure.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
6. The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

9. Mr X’s complaint to us, and the correspondence with the Council he sent us, show he raised concerns with the Council about his ex-partner’s care of their children. He said his children also reported matters that indicated child protection concerns. It is clear there was a dispute about the care of Mr X’s children and alleged harm, with allegations of actions by both parents.
10. There is no doubt that there was court action over a period, as the correspondence refers to different hearings. It is also clear that there has been a court order that has affected Mr X in some way. The correspondence Mr X sent us confirms this.
11. The fitness of either parent to provide care for their children was therefore a matter that formed part of court proceedings. The actions of the Council that Mr X complains of to us would therefore have been matters that would have been directly relevant to the court’s decision. If they were not raised in written or verbal evidence to the court, then it would have been reasonable to have done so. The legal bar against us investigating is very wide ranging, and it is unlikely that there are matters separable from the suitability of former partners to care for their children here that we could investigate. That the Council or an agency working on its behalf may have advised Mr X to take court action does not affect the legal bar placed on us.
12. Regarding data matters, even if these concerned issues unrelated to this complaint, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) would be better placed than us to consider them. This is because it has powers to order disclosure, to require rectification of inaccuracies, and to impose penalties that we lack.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the matters he complains of are not separable from matters that either were or could reasonably have been raised during court action.
14. Even if that were not so, there is another body better placed than us to consider data matters.
15. We cannot consider the Council’s complaint handling as the substantive matters complained of are outside our legal powers.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman