Summary: We will not investigate part of Mr X and Mrs Y’s complaint about an overpayment for fostering allowance because the Council apologised and cancelled its request for repayment. An investigation is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome. We cannot investigate part of the complaint about the Council’s response to their Subject Access Request because Mr X and Mrs Y have taken the matter to court, and the law says we cannot investigate. We will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling because the tests in our Assessment Code are not met.

The complaint

1. Mr X and Mrs Y complained the Council:
1. issued an overpayment letter to them regarding fostering payments without explanation;
2. failed to respond appropriately to their Subject Access Request (SAR); and
3. failed to consider their complaint through the children’s statutory complaints process and failed to respond to their complaint properly.
2. Mr X and Mrs Y say the matter caused them distress and frustration.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
6. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

Overpayment letter and attempt to reclaim

9. Mr X and Mrs Y complained the Council sent a letter relating to overpayments for fostering allowance and failed to explain how it had calculated the overpayment.
10. In its complaint response, the Council apologised and explained service improvements it was making as it moved to a new payments system. It also wrote off the full amount it said was owed.
11. An investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve anything further, and so we will not investigate this complaint.

Response to SAR

12. Mr X and Mrs Y submitted a Subject Access Request to the Council. They later took the matter to the Information Commissioner because they believed the Council had failed to comply with the law.
13. In February 2026, Mr X and Mrs Y began legal proceedings regarding this matter.
14. Because Mr X and Mrs Y took the matter to court, the law says the Ombudsman cannot investigate.

Complaints handling

15. Mr X and Mrs Y said the Council used the corporate complaints process rather than the children’s statutory complaints process to consider the complaint.
16. 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. Consequently, we will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling as the tests in our Assessment Code are not met.

Back to top

Final decision

17. We will not investigate part of Mr X and Mrs Y’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome. We cannot investigate part of the complaint because Mr X and Mrs Y have taken the matter to court and the law says we cannot investigate. We will not investigate the remainder because the tests in our Assessment Code are not met.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman