Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with his child. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst the case is subject to ongoing court proceedings.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with his child.

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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. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint at present because his son’s case is currently being considered in ongoing proceedings in the family court and that his concerns could be raised to the court during the proceedings. It explained that where there are ongoing proceedings it has discretion to decide not to investigate a complaint.
7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. This is to ensure the proceedings, which must take precedence over a complaint investigation, are not at risk of being prejudiced by a concurrent investigation. It is a decision the Council has discretion to make. It has made this decision in line with the statutory guidance to local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints where there are ongoing proceedings.
8. It will be open to Mr X to resubmit his complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded to see whether there are any residual matters it can consider which were not, and could not have been, raised and considered as part of the court proceedings.
9. The law prevents us from considering 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

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman