Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms J’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with her family. We cannot investigate what happened in court. Other agencies are better placed to consider some of the issues raised, and it is unlikely we would find fault in those parts of the complaint not covered by this.

The complaint

1. Ms J complains about the Council’s involvement with her family. Ms J’s grandchildren are in the Council’s care, and she complains particularly about:
• Communications with her
• Assessment of risk
• Racism
• Breach of confidentiality
• Conflict of interest
• Lack of reunification attempts with partners or wider family
• Officers lying to 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. 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)
3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered the information in Ms J’s complaint, and information provided by the Council when we asked about
• Its consideration of the complaint
• What has happened in court.
6. I have given Ms J the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

Communications with Ms J

7. Ms J says that officers were rude to her. It is unlikely there is sufficient evidence for us to be able to reach a robust conclusion on this.
8. Ms J also says social workers refused to respond to her communications. The Council has to prioritise communicating with those who have parental responsibility for the children in its care. This does not include Ms J. So it is unlikely we would find fault.

Assessment of risk

9. The court has reviewed the Council’s assessment of the risk Ms J posed to her grandchildren. So we cannot investigate this part of Ms J’s complaint.

Racism

10. This is a matter the Equality and Human Rights Commission is better placed to consider, so we will not investigate it.

Breach of confidentiality

11. This is a matter the Information Commissioner is better placed to consider, so we will not investigate it.

Conflict of interest

12. This is a matter Social Work England is better placed to consider, so we will not investigate it.

Lack of reunification attempts with partners or wider family

13. The court has decided who should care for Ms J’s grandchildren. Consideration of family members as potential carers was part of that decision-making process. Ms J subsequently applied to court about contact arrangements. So we cannot investigate this part of Ms J’s complaint.

Officers lying to the court

14. This is a complaint about what happened in court and the law does not allow us to investigate it.

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Final decision

15. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate what happened in court, other agencies are better placed to consider some of the issues raised, and it is unlikely we would find fault in those parts of the complaint not covered by this.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman