Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in Mr X’s child’s case. We have no power in law to investigate matters that have been considered in court. It was reasonable for Mr X to raise all concerns as part of the related court proceedings.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to safeguard his child and made dishonest representations to court. He also said it failed to properly respond to his complaint.
2. Mr X said the matter caused significant distress to him and his child, and caused additional legal fees for Mr X which have left him out of pocket. He wanted the Council to respond to his complaint.

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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. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

9. Mr X’s complaint includes the content of the Council’s representations to court as part of family court proceedings. While those proceedings were between Mr X and the child’s other parent, the law prevents us from investigating the Council’s actions in gathering evidence to submit to the court. We cannot investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint.
10. Mr X’s complaint is also about the Council’s response to a safeguarding concern he raised. He says the Council failed to properly investigate the concern. While the court’s role was not to decide whether there was fault by the Council, it was reasonable for Mr X to raise these concerns as part of the proceedings. This is because his concerns were directly relevant to the court’s decision about his child’s best interests. We will not investigate a complaint about the matter instead.
11. It is not a proportionate use of public resources for us to investigate complaints about complaint-handling where we are not investigating the substantive complaint. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s response to his complaint.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns matters that have been considered in court, and would have been reasonable for Mr X to raise as part of the family court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman