Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the actions of the Social Worker allocated to her child’s case. The law prevents us from investigating anything that forms part of court proceedings, including information and reports produced for the court. We would expect Ms X to raise any concerns about these issues in court.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Social Worker allocated to her child has acted in a biased way when interacting with her. She wants the Council to ask another Social Worker to produce the report about her child for the court.

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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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.

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My assessment

6. The Council has responded to Ms X’s complaints under both stages of its corporate complaint procedure. It has apologised for the times when its communication with her could have been better. It has also explained why it will not reallocate her child’s case to another Social Worker.
7. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is about the Council’s evidence to court as part of care proceedings. The law prevents us from investigating what happens in court, including the content of a council’s report to the court and its related actions. It also includes allegations of bias or unfairness by the Council, which should be raised as part of any proceedings. We have no power to intervene or make decisions in place of the court. Only the court can decide what is in a child’s best interest and any matters in dispute.
8. Our role is to look into the Council’s actions as a corporate body, rather than to investigate an individual Council employee. If Ms X has concerns about the professionalism or conduct of an individual social worker, she can report this to their professional body, Social Work England. We have no jurisdiction to become involved in such matters.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it relates to information the Council has produced for court proceedings, which could reasonably have been raised in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman