Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a statement the Council included in a report it produced as part of court proceedings. The law prevents us doing so.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council falsely accused her of turning up to her children’s school intoxicated. She said the Council refused to amend this statement in its records, and that this caused her significant distress. She wanted the Council to remove this information from its report produced for court. She wanted an apology and compensation for her legal fees due to misguided proceedings.

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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 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The law prevents us from considering what happens during court proceedings. This includes the content of reports produced for court.
8. We may sometimes consider whether fault occurred before court proceedings, without which the court proceedings could potentially have been avoided. Mrs X believed the statement about her appearing intoxicated at the children’s school meant the children’s father commenced proceedings, which he otherwise would not have. There is insufficient evidence this was the case, and the court report shows there were several other concerns raised.
9. We could not say the proceedings were misguided and would not have happened but for this statement. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council before proceedings started.
10. Mrs X ultimately had the opportunity to challenge all allegations against her as part of the private court proceedings. We cannot investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is about the content of a report the Council produced for court which the law prevents us investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman