Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s management of contact arrangements with his children and breaching a court order. The Council has accepted fault in the administration of contact and offered Mr X £500. Investigation by us would be unlikely to lead to a better outcome. The enforcement of contact arrangements can only be resolved by a court, and it would thus be reasonable for Mr X to use his right to return to court if he seeks enforcement.

The complaint

1. Mr X sent us his complaint to the Council. In this complaint, he complained about the Council’s management of his contact with his children. He complained the Council had breached a court order.
2. He has since told us his complaint is about the way the Council organised his contact with his children and the information it gave him about them.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. Mr X was not able to complain to us in the usual way and we agreed he could send us his complaint to the Council. I asked the Council for the full complaint correspondence that followed the procedure set out for statutory complaints about children’s services. I then considered Mr X’s response to my earlier decision which had been based on his complaint to the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The complaint correspondence indicated that the matters complained of concerned one of two things. These were alleged breaches by the Council of a court order regarding Mr X’s contact with his children, and alleged fault by failing to improve his contact or discussing this with him.
9. Only a court can resolve matters of disputed contact with children or breaches of court orders. We cannot make any recommendations about adherence to court orders. However, where matters are alleged administrative errors rather than a deliberate decision of the Council, we may consider them.
10. Mr X has pointed out his complaint concerns, among other things, the quality and quality of photographs of his children, the quality and quantity of reports he received, the absence of contact supervisors, missed appointments, and problems with transport. He also points out the Council has offered him £500 for various failings in the management of his contact.
11. While these are separable from matters of alleged breaches of court orders, if we had investigated and found these errors by the Council, we would not have been likely to recommend a greater sum. There is thus no good reason to investigate them.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:

• Investigation by us of the administration of Mr X’s contact arrangements with his children by the Council would be unlikely to lead to a different outcome or add to the apology and payment offered by the Council.
• Mr X also has a right to go to court to challenge any breach of a court order. It would be reasonable to use this right as only a court can decide if there has been a breach of a court order.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman