Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement of Mrs X’s child, because matters are subject to ongoing care proceedings. Additionally, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s complaint handling to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s actions related to child protection matters and that the Council has refused to investigate her complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. 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), section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The Council told Mrs X it would not consider her complaint as her concerns related to ongoing investigation and care proceedings. It told her she could bring the matter back for further consideration once care proceedings had concluded.
8. We will not investigate this. In line with the relevant statutory guidance the Council has discretion to not consider Mrs X’s complaint where there is ongoing court action. This ensures a complaint investigation does not prejudice a court matter. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s use of its discretion to justify our involvement.
9. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters a court is considering or that could be raised as part of court proceedings. Such matters are outside our jurisdiction, and we cannot consider them.

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Final decision

We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint as matters are part of ongoing court proceedings. Also, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s complaint handling to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman