Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (20 005 405)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Nov 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Miss X complains the Council lied about her in court reports and to the court. The Ombudsman does not intend to investigate this complaint. We cannot investigate what happens in court, which includes reports the Council prepares for and presents to court, as well as issues indivisibly linked to the court proceedings.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I will call Miss X, says a social worker lied in assessments and reports prepared for the courts. She says the Council refused to do anything about this when presented with evidence.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information provided by Miss X in her complaint form. And the Council’s responses to her complaint.
What I found
- Miss X says Council officers lied to the court and in court reports.
- The law says we cannot investigate what happens in court. This includes reports prepared by councils as part of court proceedings and anything said by Council’ officers to the court.
- Also, the Ombudsman cannot separately investigate council officer actions without considering their consequences. In this case most of the actions Miss X complains of concern reports prepared by social workers for the Court or matters which were considered by the Court. Decisions regarding her family were made by the Court. The law places such matters outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
- Finally, the Ombudsman’s role is to investigate the actions of the Council as a corporate body where appropriate, not to hold individual officers accountable. Miss X’s concerns about the integrity of the individual social worker can be considered by Social Work England, the relevant professional body.
Final decision
I cannot investigate this complaint. We cannot investigate what happens in court, this includes reports the Council presents to court and issues indivisibly linked to the court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman