Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her children’s case. The issues raised are closely related to matters that have been the subject of court proceedings. The existence of court action creates a permanent and absolute legal bar preventing us from investigating the matter. We also cannot achieve the outcome Mrs X wants.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the way her children’s Social Worker(s) dealt with their case. She alleges the Social Workers have lied about her in court. This has led to the court removing the children from Mrs X’s care. She wants the Council to dismiss the Social Workers involved.

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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. When we find fault, we can recommend remedies for significant personal injustice, or to prevent future injustice, caused by that fault. We look at organisational fault, not individual professional competence. Decisions about individual’s fitness to practise or work are for the organisations concerned, and for professional regulators, not the Ombudsman. (Local Government Act 1974, s26(1) and s26A(1) as amended)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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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. The Council has told us it has not received any complaints from Mrs X about its handling of her children’s case. Typically we would ask councils to respond to premature complaints like this before we could consider them.
9. I do not believe this is necessary in Mrs X’s case. This is because the issues she has raised either relate to matters that have already been considered by the court or concerns about the conduct of individual Council employees.
10. The law prevents us from investigating anything that has been the subject of court proceedings, which would include anything the Council or its employees have submitted to that forum. The Council has told us Mrs X was legally represented at the court proceedings. It would therefore have been reasonable to have expected her to have raised any objections or concerns about the accuracy of the information the Council presented in the court proceedings. We have no power to intervene or make decisions in place of the court.
11. Mrs X has complained about specific actions and general attitude of her children’s Social Workers. Our role is to look into the Council’s actions as a corporate body, rather than to investigate an individual. If Mrs X has concerns about the professionalism or conduct of an individual social worker, she can report her concerns to their professional body, Social Work England.
12. Mrs X wants the Council to take disciplinary action against the Social Workers. We would not be able to achieve this outcome as any disciplinary actions between the Council and its employees fall outside our jurisdiction.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the issues are closely related to court proceedings or the conduct of individual employees, which we have no jurisdiction to investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman