Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the information the Council provided to the court and the actions of the social workers involved with her case. The issues raised relate to what happened in court. It is unlikely we could add to the Council’s response in relation to the remaining issue complained about.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the social workers allocated to her case and the information provided by the Council to the court. Miss X says information was withheld and the court was misled. Miss X says the current social worker should be removed from her case because of a conflict of interest.

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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 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

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

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My assessment

7. Many of the matters Miss X raises formed part of court proceedings, and therefore we do not have power to investigate this. The law prevents us from investigating the start of court action and anything that has formed part of court proceedings, including the information presented to the courts by the Council, and issues about the social worker which are also related to the court action.
8. Miss X also says she should be assigned a new social worker due to a conflict of interest. The Council does not accept there is a conflict. However, it has agreed to allocate a new social worker and team manager to the case. It is unlikely an investigation could add to this response or achieve anything further in relation to this part of Miss X’s complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because many of the issues raised relate to court proceedings which are outside the Ombudsman remit. It is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman could add to the Council’s response in relation to the remaining issue complained about.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman