Summary: We cannot investigate Miss Z’s complaint about the actions of the Council’s children’s services. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about the start of court action or what happened in court, and the more recent matters are too closely related to the court proceedings. For the Council’s handling of Miss Z’s complaint, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Miss Z, represented by Mrs Y, complained the Council has not properly communicated with or supported her during court proceedings. Miss Z also said the Council did not properly investigate an injury to her child and proposed an unsuitable care plan to the court.
2. Miss Z also said the Council has not dealt with her complaint properly.
3. Miss Z said this has caused her distress and set her up to fail.
4. Miss Z wants the Council to reassess her capacity, provide a more suitable placement and for the care plan for her child to be paused.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
6. 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)
7. 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))
8. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 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))
9. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 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))

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How I considered this complaint

10. I considered information provided by Mrs Y and the Council.
11. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

12. Mrs Y said the Council did not communicate effectively with Miss Z, did not adhere to contact arrangements with Miss Z’s child, did not properly investigate an injury to the child, and has proposed an unsuitable care plan for the child.
13. We cannot investigate this complaint because the primary issues complained about are being considered by the court. Miss Z is legally represented in the active court proceedings and could raise any objections she may have directly with the court.
14. Mrs Y also said there has been unacceptable delay in the Council carrying out a stage two complaint investigation as part of the children’s statutory complaints process.
15. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
16. The law allows for councils to pause children’s statutory complaints where to consider them could prejudice the court’s decision making where court proceedings are active. It is therefore unlikely that we would find fault in how the Council has handled Miss Z’s complaint, and so will not investigate.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Miss Z’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating complaints that are linked to court proceedings. We will also not investigate her complaint about the Council’s complaint handling. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman