Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his children’s case. There is nothing more we could achieve by investigating because the Council has already taken action to correct the content of Social Work Assessments. The law prevents us from investigating anything the Council has produced for court proceedings, so we cannot consider Mr X’s complaints about a section 37 report.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has recorded inaccurate information about his children and their other parent. He thinks the Council should have highlighted parental alienation and emotional abuse in its report to the court. He believes the Council has failed to understand the case history and respond to his concerns and questions. He wants the Council to ensure information in court reports is accurate. He also wants compensation from the Council for his time and money spent.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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))
3. 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)
4. 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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council has already met with Mr X and discussed his concerns about the content of a Social Work Assessment shared with him about his children. The Council has taken steps to make amendments to the information in the assessment following its meeting with Mr X.
8. We will not investigate this element of Mr X’s complaint further. This is because the most we would normally seek to achieve is that a record of the complainant’s views is added to the file. The Council has already taken this action, so there is nothing more we could meaningfully achieve in this respect.
9. As part of private law proceedings involving children, the court may ask the Council to produce a section 7 or 37 report. The court will then consider the report as part of its decision making. Because section 7 and 37 reports form part of court proceedings, we have no jurisdiction to investigate their preparation or content.
10. We will not investigate because the law prevents us from becoming involved in matters that are or have been the subject of court proceedings. It would be for Mr X to raise any concerns about any information or reports the Council has prepared for the court in that forum. We have no power to intervene or make decisions in place of the court. Only the court can decide what is in a child’s best interest and on any matters of dispute.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not achieve anything more beyond the action the Council has already taken. The law prevents us from investigating the preparation or content of reports the Council has produced for court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman