Summary: Miss X says the Council’s involvement with her children adversely affected her relationships with her children and ex- partner. We will not investigate because part of the Council’s involvement was considered in court and the law prevents us from investigating what happens as part of court proceedings. Further, we would not be able to link Miss X’s claimed injustice to any fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council’s involvement in her children’s case affected her relationships with her children/ex-partner and has caused her ongoing anxiety.
2. Miss X would like the Council to acknowledge its faults in not considering her concerns properly, the stress caused to her and would like an apology.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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)
4. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
5. 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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Miss X was involved in private law proceedings for child custody. The Council was asked to provide expert evidence for the family court in the form of a section 7 report.
9. The Council was also involved in placing Miss X’s children under a child protection plan, downgraded in June 2024 to a child in need plan. In February 2025, the Council’s involvement with Miss X’s children ceased.
10. We will not investigate. The law prevents us from investigating matters decided in court which would include Council’s evidence to the court. Miss X was represented in court and could have raised her concerns about the Council report in court.
11. The consequences of the matters Miss X raises - in terms of affecting her relationships - cannot be investigated. We would not be able to establish a causal link between any fault by the Council and Miss X’s claimed injustice.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is partly about the Council’s actions as part of a court process. And we would not be able to link the claimed injustice to any fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman