Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about information the Council provided to the court during court proceedings relating to his children because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council lied to the court during court proceedings for his children and that this led to his children being removed from his care for several months.

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

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

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My assessment

7. Mr X complained to the Council about information it provided to the court during court proceedings relating to his children and about the impact of this. Mr X says his children were removed from his care for several months due to the Council lying to the court.
8. The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint via its complaints procedure. This is because it said Mr X could have raised his concerns to the court during the proceedings, which commenced in 2021, via his legal representative. It also said it would not investigate because the events Mr X complained about happened between late 2021 and late 2022. It explained that matters that are more than 12 months old are excluded from the Council’s complaints policy.
9. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been subject to and considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so. This restriction means we cannot consider a complaint about evidence the Council provided to the court during the proceedings.
10. The complaint also lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person affected first becoming aware of the matter. However, we would still have been unable to consider this complaint even if it had been made in time due to the restriction set out in paragraph 9, above.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman