Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in a child protection case. The law prevents us from investigating matters that have been considered in court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about misinformation within the Council’s report written for court, which he said affected proceedings. Mr X said the Council did not visit him during its assessment.
2. Mr X says this has caused the family distress. Mr X wants the Council to provide information to the court to increase his contact with his child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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. The matter Mr X complains about has been discussed at court. It would have been reasonable to expect Mr X to present his argument during those proceedings. We cannot consider the content of the Council’s report to court or its actions while gathering information for that report. We cannot question the court’s decision and we cannot obtain the outcome Mr X is seeking.
9. Any matters that could be separable from the court proceedings are late in any event, as Mr X was aware of the issues in early 2023. Mr X could have brought his complaint to us several months earlier, after receiving the Council’s final complaint response in late 2023. There is not a good reason for the delay, and we will not investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it relates to the Council’s actions as part of court proceedings, which the law prevents us from investigating. Any potentially separable matters are late and there is not a good reason for the delay in Mr X bringing his complaint to the Ombudsman.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman