Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council social worker involved in her child’s case. Most of the issues relate to matters the court considered, or which Mrs X could have raised at court. The law prevents us from investigating these matters.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the conduct of the Council’s social worker involved in her child’s case. She says the social worker gave her incorrect advice which caused her to breach a court order. She says this led a judge to consider changing her child’s residence.
2. Mrs X also says the social worker’s report to the court contained inaccuracies and omissions, and the social worker did not carry out a thorough assessment. She complains about delays and lack of action by the Council during the process. She also complains the Council failed to provide support for her and her child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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))
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)
6. We also 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))
7. 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

8. I considered information provided by Mrs X.
9. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. The law prevents us from investigating reports that a council has prepared for court. This includes the content of the report, how the council prepared it and conducted assessments for it, and the social worker’s actions throughout this process. Therefore, we cannot investigate this part of Mrs X’s complaint.
11. We also may decide not to investigate an issue that could have reasonably been raised in court. Whether the social worker’s advice caused Mrs X to breach a court order is an issue that could have reasonably been raised and considered in the court proceedings. Only the courts can decide whether the advice had any bearing on the outcome or care arrangements for Mrs X’s child. Therefore, I will also not investigate this part of Mrs X’s complaint.

Delays and lack of action

12. Mrs X complains about delays and lack of action by the Council. The events she refers to occurred more than 12 months before she complained to us. This makes this part of her complaint late.
13. If Mrs X was unhappy with the delays at that time then it would have been reasonable for her to complain to us sooner. I see no reason why she could not have done so. Therefore, I will not investigate this part of her complaint.

Lack of support

14. Mrs X also complains the Council failed to support her and her family. We can only consider any failure to provide support within the 12 months before Mrs X complained to us.
15. It appears the social worker supported police involvement where allegations were raised and completed six months of supervising family time. It also appears the social worker tried to help Mrs X get further support from her doctor. It does not appear it was the Council’s role to provide further support than this during the court proceedings. Therefore, it is unlikely there is enough evidence of fault on this point to justify us investigating.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint mostly because it concerns matters that were considered, or could have reasonably been considered, in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman