Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in Miss X’s child’s case while care proceedings were ongoing. The law prevents us from investigating matters that have been considered in court. It was reasonable for Miss X to raise any remaining concerns as part of the proceedings.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council refused to engage with her and did not listen to her children’s concerns about their foster placement. Miss X said her children had bruises and looked unkempt during their contact with her. She said the matter caused her distress. She wanted the social worker to engage with her and to stop keeping her apart from her children.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X’s complaint relates to the Council’s involvement while care proceedings were ongoing in 2025. Miss X complained to the Council about it:
• wrongly leaving her unsupervised at contact sessions;
• not working with her;
• failing to consider neglect towards the children in their foster placement; and
• restricting her contact due to allegations about things she had said.
7. The law prevents us from investigating matters that have been considered by the courts. We have no power to override the court’s decisions about contact and the welfare of Miss X’s children. Parts of Miss X’s complaint are about matters that have been considered by the court, for example via the Council’s reports to court.
8. Any parts of Miss X’s complaint that were not considered in court would have been reasonable for Miss X to raise as part of the proceedings, as they are inextricably linked. The court’s role was not to decide whether there was fault in the Council’s actions. However, it was relevant for the court to be made aware of any concerns about the children’s welfare and any issues with the Council’s engagement with Miss X that she believed could have impacted its representations to court. Miss X was a party to the proceedings and could have raised her concerns via her solicitor while the proceedings were ongoing. We will not investigate the matter instead.

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Final decision

9. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is about matters that have been considered in court, which the law prevents us from investigating. It would have been reasonable for Miss X to raise all parts of her complaint as part of the proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman