Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a report the Council has provided to the court in ongoing family court proceedings. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint until the ongoing proceedings have concluded.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has submitted a report to the family court which is full of inaccuracies and unsubstantiated accusations against him which will have a negative impact on custody and contact with his children. The Council has refused to review the report. Mr X says the Council has actively discriminated against him due to his neurodivergent disabilities and has drawn inaccurate conclusions based on its prejudices.

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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.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained to the Council about the matter set out in paragraph one, above,
9. The Council told Mr X it could not consider his complaint at present as it could be prejudicial to the ongoing court proceedings for it to do so. It advised Mr X to raise his concerns with his legal representative and said he can resubmit his complaint to the Council once the proceedings have ended.
10. We will not investigate this complaint. 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. This is a decision the Council has discretion to make. This is in order to prevent the proceedings from being put at risk of being prejudiced by a concurrent investigation. Its decision is made in line with the statutory guidance to local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints where there are ongoing proceedings, including court proceedings. As set out in the Council’s response, it will be open to Mr X to resubmit his complaint to the Council for consideration once the proceedings have concluded.
11. We cannot investigate complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court proceedings, or which could have been considered in court. Such matters lie outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider them. This restriction means we cannot consider complaints about evidence or reports the Council provides to the court or about the preparation of evidence or reports for the court. Mr X’s concerns about the evidence the Council has submitted to the court should be raised to the court during the proceedings so that the judge can consider them before a decision is made.

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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 until the ongoing proceedings have concluded.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman