Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the contact she has with her family because the Court is considering this. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider inaccurate documents complaints. And Mrs X is not the best person to complain about children services’ actions as she does not have parental responsibility.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the way the Council’s children services has acted towards her family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council replies to Mrs X.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X says the Council’s children services team have a child protection plan for her family. She says the Council has made poor decisions and ignored her concerns for over two years. She says it has destroyed her marriage and affected her mental health. She says the Council has imposed restrictions on her contact with her family. She says the Council has said inaccurate things about her.
8. Mrs X says she applied to Court for a Child Arrangement Order which includes asking for parental responsibility for the children.

Analysis

9. We cannot investigate the contact Mrs X has with the children as the Court is considering this.
10. We will not investigate whether the Council has inaccuracies in its reports, assessments or other documents. This is because Mrs X has the right to request records are ‘rectified’. This means any factual inaccuracies are corrected. If the Council refuses to do so, she can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Parliament set up the ICO to consider data protection disputes which includes ‘right to rectification’ disputes. The ICO are better placed than us to consider if the Council should change its records particularly because there are complex exemptions for child protection case files.
11. We will not investigate any children services action which happened before the Court proceedings as Mrs X does not have parental responsibility for the children. There are other people better placed to complain about the Council’s actions which are centred on the children’s welfare.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the contact she has with her family because the Court is considering this. The ICO is better placed to consider inaccurate documents’ complaints. And Mrs X is not the best person to complain about children services’ actions as she does not have parental responsibility.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman