Summary: We cannot investigate part of Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s child protection involvement with her family because the matter was considered by a court. We will not investigate part because it is likely the matters have been or could have been raised during court proceedings. We will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling because there is insufficient injustice.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council failed to:
1. make reasonable adjustments to enable her and her child to engage in the child protection process;
2. provide advocacy support to her and her child as part of the child protection process;
3. provide information relating to the child protection process to her;
4. consider her complaints through its complaints process.
2. Mrs X said the matter caused her distress and frustration.

Back to top

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 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

9. We cannot investigate part of Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with her family because the matters were considered by a court. This includes Mrs X’s concerns about issues relating to the way the Council assessed her child, and any perceived failures by the Council as part of that process.
10. We will not investigate the remainder of Mrs X’s complaints. This is because the issues raised could reasonably have been included or raised as part of connected court proceedings. The court has wide powers to instruct councils to act, including providing support or information. It is likely that these matters either could have been or were considered by the court as part of its involvement, and therefore we will not investigate these complaints.
11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaints about the Council’s complaint handling. Because we are not investigating the substantive matter, any claimed injustice about delays in the Council’s complaints handling is not significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We cannot investigate part of Mrs X’s complaint because the matter was considered by a court. We will not investigate part because it is likely the matters have been or could have been raised during court proceedings. We will not investigate the remainder because there is insufficient injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman