Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the contents of a report, written in relation to the complainants Special Guardianship Order. This is because the report concerns a matter that has been subject to court proceedings.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall refer to as Mrs C, complains about the contents of a report produced on her suitability for a Special Guardianship Order.

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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. 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.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered Mrs C’s complaint and the Council’s response. I have invited Mrs C to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

6. Mrs C has the care of her grandchild for whom she has applied for an SGO. In considering the application a third-party was commissioned to produce a report.
7. Mrs C complained to the Council about the actions of the third-party who produced the report. She says they interviewed someone who was not provided as a reference, and the report contains inaccurate information.
8. The Council would not investigate Mrs C’s complaint because it was about someone who was not employed by the Council and it noted that Mrs C had been given the opportunity to raise objections to the content of the report in court.
9. Mrs C says the court proceedings were still ongoing and the case is due to be heard again soon.

Assessment

10. I cannot investigate Mrs C’s complaint about the contents of a social work assessment or about who was interviewed in preparation of the assessment. This is because the assessment has been subject to court proceedings. The law does not allow us to investigate anything which forms part of legal proceedings.
11. Mrs C is also unhappy with the way her complaint was handled and said the Council took too long to tell her it would not investigate the matter. However, we will not investigate a council’s complaint handling if we are not going to look at the issue which led to the original complaint. This applies here.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the matter is subject to court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman