Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss B’s complaint about the way the Council communicated with her and responded to her concerns about her children. This is because the issues are too closely linked to ongoing court action.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains about the way the Council communicated with her and responded to her concerns about her children.
2. She says the Council failed to share information about her children’s health and wellbeing while they have been in the Council’s care. She also says the Council failed to take action in response to reports she made about allegations of abuse and safeguarding concerns.
3. Miss B further complains about the way the Council handled her complaints.
4. She says this denied her the information she is entitled to and put her children at risk.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
7. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I spoke to Miss B and considered all the information she provided with her complaint and consulted relevant guidance and legislation.
9. Miss B and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and I carefully considered all the comments I received.

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What I found

10. Miss B has four children. All four children are currently in the care of the Council.
11. Until December 2019 Miss B had supervised monthly contact with the children.
12. The Council says it stopped supervised contact due to Miss B’s ‘repeated aggressive behaviour towards staff during contact which was having a negative impact on the children’.
13. The Council applied for the court to make an order under section 34(4) of the Children Act 1989 to stop all contact with Miss B.
14. This case is waiting to be heard at court.
15. Miss B made several complaints to the Council about her children’s care, allegations of abuse and safeguarding concerns.
16. In October 2019 the Council provided a final response to Miss B. It said:

‘Your complaint has been discussed with the both the team manager and service manager who have no concerns in relation to the conduct of the social worker and the work she has carried out. Sefton Council have a zero-tolerance policy to violence and aggression’.

17. The Council reduced its contact with Miss B to three monthly intervals to provide an update following looked after children (LAC) review meetings. It says it hoped this would help Miss B cope with the information she receives and reduce conflict.
18. Miss B remained dissatisfied with the Council response and complained to the Ombudsman.
19. I have carefully considered all aspects of Miss B’s complaint and the information she provided. In my view, it would not be possible for the Ombudsman to investigate any of Miss B’s individual complaints without straying into areas which are being considered by the court.
20. The matters are intrinsically linked and Miss B can raise all of these at court.
21. Once the case has been heard at court it remains open to Miss B to bring her complaint back to the Ombudsman for us to consider if there any outstanding matters we could and should investigate.

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Final decision

22. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because most of it cannot be separated from the matters being considered by the court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman