Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s care planning for children. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about what happens in court. For the rest, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s handling of the children’s statutory complaints procedure to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s care planning for her grandchildren, and the Council’s refusal to investigate her complaint about the matter at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
2. Miss X says this caused distress.
3. Miss X wants the Council to change its care plans and take her family’s views into account.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
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 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

7. I considered information provided by Miss X.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating what happens in court. This includes the Council’s care planning for Miss X’s grandchildren.
10. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
11. Miss X asked the Council to investigate her complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council refused due to there being concurrent court proceedings.
12. Councils can refuse to consider a complaint if a complainant says they intend to take legal action or if investigating a complaint could prejudice concurrent court proceedings. However, after the proceedings have ended, a complainant can resubmit the complaint for the council to consider.
13. We will also not investigate this part of Miss X’s complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider Miss X’s statutory children’s complaint at stage two because of the concurrent court proceedings.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating complaints about what happens in court. For the rest, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s handling of the children’s statutory complaints procedure to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman