Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst the matter is subject to ongoing court proceedings.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains her children have been unlawfully removed from her care and about the impact of this on her family. Mrs X says the Council has made false allegations against her and has breached her human rights.

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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))
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X complained to the Council about the matters set out in paragraph 1, above.
9. The Council told Mrs X it would not consider her complaint because the case is subject to ongoing court proceedings. It advised Mrs X to raise her concerns with her legal representative.
10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. The relevant statutory guidance gives the Council discretion to decide not to investigate a complaint where it considers that to do so could prejudice any ongoing proceedings. It will be open to Mrs X to resubmit her complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded. The Council can then assess whether there are any matters not linked to the court proceedings and the court’s decision that it can consider via its complaints procedure.
11. We cannot consider complaints about matters that are being, or have been considered in court proceedings. Such matters lie outside our jurisdiction and the law says we cannot consider them.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman