Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s child protection involvement with her children approximately ten years ago which resulted in court proceedings and the granting of a Special Guardianship Order. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been subject to court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s Children’s Services involvement with her family approximately ten years ago. Miss X says she asked the Council for help and signed a Section 20 agreement only on the understanding that her children would be returned to her care should she request it. The Council initiated court proceedings which resulted in a Special Guardianship Order being granted in relation to her children. Miss X says the allocated social worker’s approach was punitive and adversarial and her report to the court included false allegations about her. Miss X says there were compelling reasons for her delay in submitting her complaint to the Council.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X complained to the Council about the matters set out in paragraph one, above.
7. The Council told Miss X it could not consider her complaint via its complaints procedure because it was about events that happened more than 12 months ago.
8. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so. This means we cannot consider the Council’s role in the court proceedings nor any evidence or reports it provided to the court. The Council’s decision making on the case will have been considered by the court in making its decision to grant the Special Guardianship Order and so it forms part of the proceedings. This is not a matter the law allows us to investigate.

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Final decision

9. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and the law gives us no discretion to consider it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman