Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council (23 020 678)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 01 May 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about a social worker lying to the family court because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from considering complaints about matters that have been considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains a social worker lied to the court in family court proceedings and about the impact of this.
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
- Miss X complained to the Council about statements a social worker made to the family court. Miss X says the social worker lied. The statements were confirmed as inaccurate during the court proceedings.
- In response, the Council said the information provided to the court was thought to be accurate based on the information available at the time but during the course of the proceedings it was confirmed the information provided was inaccurate. This was acknowledged by the court and all parties and the court’s decision was based on the correct information. The Council told Miss X it would not consider the matter via its complaints procedure because the matter was considered and addressed during the proceedings. It apologised that the initial information it provided to the court was later found to be incorrect.
- We cannot investigate this complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman