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

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains the Council has been biased and unprofessional throughout its child protection involvement with his family and about the impact of this on him and his 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 do not start 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. Mr Y complained to the Council about its handling of his family’s case in its child protection involvement with his family.
9. The Council told Mr Y it would not consider his complaint now because it is about matters that can and will be discussed in ongoing court proceedings. It explained it has discretion to decide not to investigate a complaint where to do so could prejudice concurrent proceedings. It advised Mr Y to raise his concerns to his legal representative so that they can be raised to the court. It signposted Mr Y to this office if he was dissatisfied with its decision.
10. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate his complaint whilst the matter is subject to ongoing court proceedings. As set out in the Council’s response it is a decision it has discretion to make in line with the relevant statutory guidance. It will be open to Mr Y to resubmit his complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded to see whether there are any residual matters it can consider via its complaints procedure which were not and could not have been raised and considered during the proceedings.
11. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court or which could have been raised during the proceedings. We have no discretion to consider complaints about such matters.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint due to the ongoing court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman