Summary: The Ombudsman will not and cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s children services actions. There are no good reasons the late complaint rule should not apply to older events. And we cannot investigate issues which has been decided by a Court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, is unhappy with the way the Council’s children services team has been involved with his family over the last 20 years.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
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. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Mr X provided with his complaint which included the Council’s reply to him. Mr X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

6. Mr X says the Council’s children services team has been involved with his family for over 20 years, and in particular in the last 10 years, on four occasions. He says there have been multiple social workers. He says officers have lied to cover up neglect. He says its cost him over £5000 in court costs.
7. The Council’s October 2020 reply to Mr X says that a Court decided his children’s care arrangements. It says it cannot control the children’s actions or what third parties put on social media.

Analysis

8. We will not usually investigate a complaint about events which have been known to a complainant for more than 12 months without good reasons. Mr X has provided no details on the older events or why it has taken until now to complain.
9. We cannot investigate children’s care arrangements when a Court has decided these. We cannot investigate the preparation, collation, and analysis of evidence, including reports written by social workers or other officers for court proceedings (or the use of a report written previously, in following court proceedings). Nor can we investigate evidence given by council officers in any proceedings.

Back to top

Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not and cannot investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate Court decisions or information given to a Court, and there are no good reasons the late complaint rule should not apply to the older events.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman