Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to look into his concerns or assess his children. Some issues are closely related to court proceedings, and the Information Commissioner is better placed to handle the data issue .

The complaint

1. Mr X is complaining the Council:
• will not investigate his complaint due to private family court proceedings;
• has not assessed his children after referrals to the Council; and
• has not provided data after a subject access application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
4. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mr X complains the Council has not completed an assessment following multiple safeguarding referrals. He also says the Council refuses to consider his complaint because of private family court proceedings.
8. The referrals were about the safety of the children. The court action is considering the current care of the children. Therefore, the two matters are too closely linked to investigate. The Council has the right to decide not to investigate in these circumstances. We would be unlikely to find fault if we investigated.
9. Mr X sent the Council a subject access request for information linked to the safeguarding referrals. He then escalated his complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. As the Information Commissioner is better placed to consider this part of the complaint, we will not investigate it.
10. We will not consider the way the Council handled Mr X’s complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the matters are too closely linked to court proceedings, and the data element is more suitable for the Information Commissioner. As we are not investigating the substantive matters complained of, it would be disproportionate to investigate the Council’s complaint-handling.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman