Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s children’s services involvement with her family. The matters complained about were either considered by a court which the law says we cannot consider or are closely linked to matters that have been or could have been raised during court proceedings that we will not investigate. In any case, the complaint is late and there would be no good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s children’s services involvement with her family, which led to a change of care arrangements for her children.
2. Miss X said the matters caused significant distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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))
6. 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

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Miss X complained about the social workers involved with her family, during the Council’s involvement. Miss X said the Council removed her children from her without the relevant legal powers, presented inaccurate information to the courts and did not properly follow safeguarding procedures.
10. We cannot investigate this complaint. The court decided on the children’s care arrangements. As outlined in paragraph four, we cannot investigate matters which have been considered by a court.
11. Other parts of Miss X’s complaint are broadly centred around matters which either have been or could have been raised in court. Therefore, it would have been reasonable to expect Miss X to have raised her concerns as part of the court proceedings. We will therefore not investigate.
12. In any case, the matters complained about occurred between 2023 and early 2024. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman in December 2025. As outlined in paragraph six, we cannot investigate complaints about matters which happened over 12 months before a person complains to us.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because the law says we cannot investigate matters subject to court proceedings. We will not investigate the remainder of the complaint because it is closely linked to matters that have been or could have been raised during court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman