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

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with her family.

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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 provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. 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. Ms X complained to the Council about matters relating to its child protection involvement with her family. The case is subject to ongoing court proceedings.
9. The Council told Ms X it could not consider her complaint via its complaints procedure whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. This is because the matters raised in the complaint are inextricably linked to the ongoing proceedings. It advised Ms X to raise her concerns to the court during the proceedings. It explained it had made its decision not to investigate her complaint in line with the relevant statutory guidance for councils on the handling of complaints where there are concurrent proceedings.
10. We will not investigate Ms 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. This is to ensure the proceedings, which must take precedence over a complaint investigation, are not put at risk of being prejudiced by a complaint investigation. As set out in the Council’s response, it is a decision the Council is entitled to make in line with the relevant statutory guidance. It will be open to Ms X to resubmit her complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded so that it can decide whether there are any residual matters it can consider via its complaints procedure.
11. We cannot investigate complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court proceedings, or which could have been raised and considered in court. Such matters lie outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider them.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman