Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s handling child protection matters. The issues raised relate to court proceedings. The law says we cannot investigate complaints about court action or what happened in court.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the conduct of social workers during proceedings in the Family Court. Miss X says the Council was biased against her and failed to include important information in its report for the court.

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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 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))
5. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. As part of private law proceedings involving children, the court may ask the Council to produce a section 7 report. The court will then consider the report as part of its decision making. Because section 7 reports form part of court proceedings, we have no jurisdiction to investigate their preparation or content.
9. The law prevents us from investigating the start of court action and anything that has formed part of court proceedings, including the preparation and contents of reports presented to the courts by the Council, and issues about social worker support which are also related to the court action.
10. It was reasonable for Miss X to raise her concerns about the social worker’s actions and reports directly with the court, because these issues relate to the court’s consideration of the Council’s evidence. For this reason, we cannot investigate the complaint.
11. Miss X complains about the accuracy of the records held by the Council and the potential impact of those records in the future. Concerns about the handling and accuracy of personal data are matters the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law says we cannot look at complaints about court action or what happened in court, or issues that are too closely linked to court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman