Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s children’s services’ involvement in Mr X’s child’s case. The complaint is about the content of a report written for court and related matters. The law prevents us from investigating what happens in court, and the related matters are not separable from the proceedings themselves.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s child protection involvement with his child. His concerns included that it:
• did not tell him about allegations his child made about another adult;
• included factual inaccuracies in a report it produced for family court proceedings; and
• declined to consider or respond to his concerns and complaint.
2. Mr X said the matter had caused him significant distress. He wanted the Council to investigate his concerns and confirm action it had taken to safeguard his child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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. 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))
5. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. The law expressly prohibits us from investigating what happens as part of court proceedings. This includes the content of reports written for, or used in, court.
9. We cannot influence the outcome of court proceedings. It would have been reasonable for Mr X to raise all concerns about the Council’s representations as part of the proceedings, insofar as they may impact the weight the judge assigns to the Council’s report.
10. We will not investigate the peripheral actions of the social worker, who Mr X says did not tell him about allegations his child had made. The Council acknowledged fault and apologised via its complaint procedures. Even if we decided this was sufficiently separable to the court process, it is unlikely we could achieve anything more meaningful by investigating this further.
11. Mr X also complained the Council declined to respond to concerns he raised about his child. It instead directed him to raise these via the ongoing family court proceedings. We will also not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint because it is not separable to the proceedings.
12. While it is not the court’s role to decide whether there was fault in the Council’s actions outside the courtroom, these complaints are not separable from the proceedings. It is unlikely, again, that investigation by the Ombudsman would achieve a different outcome.
13. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. We will also not investigate the Council’s decision not to respond further via its complaint process while court proceedings remained ongoing.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law prevents us investigating what happens as part of court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman