Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (24 019 106)

Category : Children's care services > Child protection

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 10 Apr 2025

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s Children’s Services involvement with his family because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from considering complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings.

The complaint

  1. Mr X complained about the Council’s understanding and consideration of parental alienation and about the reports it completed and submitted to the court in family court proceedings.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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)
  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)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. The matter has been considered in court proceedings and the contents of the reports were open to challenge through the legal process. The law says we cannot consider complaints about the preparation and submission of evidence and reports to the court. The issues Mr X raises in his complaint are not clearly separable from the court proceedings.
  2. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.

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Final decision

  1. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law prevents us from considering complaints about matters discussed or decided in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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