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

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s actions in its children’s services involvement with his family. He says the Council has not acted in response to the child protection concerns he has raised about his children whilst they are in their mother’s care. Mr X also complains the social worker is now friends with the children’s mother which is a conflict of interest.

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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 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. Mr X complained to the Council about the matters set out in paragraph one, above.
9. The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint at this time due to the case being subject to ongoing court proceedings. It explained it has discretion to decide not to investigate a complaint where there are ongoing proceedings. It also explained that it would be open to Mr X to resubmit his complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded.
10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. As set out in the Council’s response, this is to ensure the proceedings, which must take precedence over a complaint investigation, are not put at risk of being prejudiced by a concurrent investigation. It is a decision the Council has discretion to make, in line with the statutory guidance to local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints where there are ongoing proceedings.
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 Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman