Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about her children wrongly being removed from her care because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been subject to court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains her children have been wrongly removed from her care and that she was not supported but neglected. She says there have been misuses of power and breaches of the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act.

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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. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X complained to the Council about the matters set out in paragraph one, above.
9. The Council told Mrs X it was unable to consider her complaint because it was about matters that were more than 12 months old. The court proceedings were several years ago.
10. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is made about matters that have been considered and decided in court proceedings. The law says we have no discretion to consider such matters. Any dissatisfaction with the court’s decisions would need to be returned to the court. We cannot consider or change them. Mrs X also complains the Council breached a court order to provide therapy. It is for the courts to consider and decide whether there has been a breach and, if so, whether any action is required as a result. It is not a matter we can consider and decide.
11. The complaint also lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person affected first becoming aware of the matter complained about. However, in this case we could not have investigated this complaint even if it had been made within 12 months due to the legal restriction set out in paragraph 10, above.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is about matters that have been subject to court proceedings. The law says we cannot consider such matters. We have no discretion to do so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman