Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of a social worker. This is because the complaint concerns actions which are not separable from those considered in court, which the law says we cannot investigate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains that the Council’s social worker has failed to provide her with appropriate support and that the Council’s actions have led to her children being taken from her.

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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. 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)
3. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X’s children are the subject of care proceedings. Miss X complains that the Council’s social worker has failed to provide her with an appropriate level of support to enable her to keep her children and, as a result, the Court decided that her children be taken from her care. She further complains that the Council’s response to its complaints about the social worker was made by her manager, about who she had also complained.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. By law, we cannot consider what has happened in court and we cannot therefore take a view on whether the social worker’s actions were material to the Court’s decision to take Miss X’s children from her care. The complaint about the social worker is not separable from the outcome of the care proceedings and we will not therefore investigate it.
8. Where we decide not to investigate a substantive complaint, we will not normally consider how a Council has responded to it. It is not a good use of our resources to do so. That is the case here. Miss X’s complaint does not fall to be investigated, and we will not therefore consider how the Council responded to it

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it concerns actions which are not separable from matters which were considered in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman