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

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with her child. Miss X says the Council has mishandled her case and victim-blamed her which has led to her child being removed from her care with a plan that he be placed for adoption.

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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 and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X complained to the Council about its actions in its child protection involvement with her son.
9. The Council told Miss X it could not consider her complaint whilst the case is subject to ongoing court proceedings. It explained it has discretion to decide not to investigate complaints where there are ongoing proceedings. This is to prevent the proceedings from being at risk of being prejudiced by a concurrent complaint investigation. It also explained the complaints procedure cannot be used to overturn or challenge the court’s decisions.
10. It advised Miss X to raise her concerns to her legal representative and informed her she can resubmit her complaint to the Council for consideration once the proceedings have concluded. It will then see whether there are any residual matters it can consider which were not subject to the court proceedings.
11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. As set out in the Council's complaint response, this is a decision it has discretion to make. It has acted in line with the statutory guidance to local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints where there are ongoing proceedings. Miss X’s concerns around the Council’s actions should be raised to the court via her legal representative so that the judge can consider them during the proceedings before the case is decided.
12. 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

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint until the ongoing court proceedings have concluded.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman