Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s reports on a child protection matter because the evidence forms part of legal proceedings which we have no power to investigate. We will not investigate a complaint about how the Council behaved towards the complainant because it is too closely connected to current court proceedings for us to consider it separately.

The complaint

1. Ms X says the Council wrote false information in the social workers’ reports and made her sign an agreement saying her daughter’s father could not see their daughter until a court hearing.
2. Ms X also says the Council was rude, failed to support her and refused to respond to her complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We cannot consider the first part of the complaint because we have no power to investigate matters that are part of ongoing court proceedings.
8. Ms X’s complaints about the Council being rude, failing to support her and refusing to respond to the complaint, are closely connected to the underlying matters in the court proceedings. We cannot separate them and we will not consider a complaint about the Council’s handling of a matter if we are not investigating the matter itself.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because some of the matters she is complaining about are part of ongoing court proceedings, and the others are too closely connected to be able to separate them.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman