Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of safeguarding concerns about her daughter. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint via its complaints procedure whilst there are ongoing family court proceedings.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s handling of her safeguarding concerns about her daughter when she is in her father’s care. The Council has told the family court it does not have any safeguarding concerns despite the father telling the court that he has been using cannabis. Miss X is concerned that the court is currently using the Council’s report as its main source of evidence in the proceedings.

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

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My assessment

8. Miss X complained to the Council about its handling of her safeguarding concerns about her daughter whilst she is in her father’s care. The case is subject to ongoing family court proceedings.
9. The Council told Miss X it would not consider her complaint via the complaints procedure at this time. This is because it considered it could be prejudicial to the ongoing family court proceedings for it to do so. It advised Miss X to raise her concerns to the court. It told Miss X she can resubmit her complaint to the Council for consideration once the court proceedings have concluded.
10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate her complaint whilst the case is subject to ongoing family court proceedings. This is a decision the Council has discretion to make and it has clearly explained its decision in its response to Miss X. As set out in the Council’s response it will be open to Miss X to ask the Council to consider her complaint once the proceedings have concluded to see whether there are any residual matters it can consider.
11. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court proceedings or which could have been raised to the court during the proceedings. Such matters lie outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider them. This restriction also means we cannot consider complaints about evidence or reports the Council provided to the court for the proceedings. This is because they form part of the proceedings.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint until the ongoing court proceedings have concluded.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman