Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that he has been treated unfairly by Children’s Services in its child protection involvement with his family. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. Also, some of the matters raised have been considered in court proceedings. Such matters lie outside our jurisdiction and the law says we cannot consider them.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has acted unfairly towards him in its child protection involvement with his family and provided him with no support whilst it provided support to his children’s mother. His children are now under a care and placement order, waiting for an adoption order to be applied for. Mr X says the Council did not take his request for support seriously. He believes if appropriate support had been provided then his daughters could have remained in his care

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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 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))
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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

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

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained to the Council about the matters set out above.
9. The Council responded to Mr X at stage one of its complaints procedure, then explained it would not consider it further because the case was subject to ongoing court proceedings. It said Mr X would have the opportunity to discuss and challenge the matters raised during those proceedings. It explained the relevant statutory guidance gives it discretion to decide not to investigate a complaint where to do so could prejudice any concurrent proceedings.
10. 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 whilst the case is subject to ongoing proceedings. This is a decision the Council is entitled to make. It has done so in line with the statutory guidance to local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints where there are ongoing proceedings. This is to prevent the court proceedings, which must take precedence over a complaint investigation, from being at risk of being prejudiced by a concurrent investigation.
11. Further to this, some matters have already been considered and decided in court. Such matters lie outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.
12. Mr X also complained to us about a social worker’s actions in March 2025. These matters have not yet completed the Council’s complaints procedure and been signposted to us and so we will not consider them here. It is likely the complaint would also not be considered by the Council until the proceedings have concluded.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. Also, we cannot investigate complaints about matters that have been considered and decided in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman