Southampton City Council (21 004 388)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 07 Jul 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about a report used in the family court. This is because the issues Miss X raises cannot be separated from the matters decided in the family court.
The complaint
- Miss X says Council staff provided biased information to a court affecting her and her child. She would like the report produced for the family court to be redone.
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 have read all the complaint information sent in by Miss X and also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We cannot intervene in court proceedings or investigate reports prepared for the court.
- We cannot separately investigate council officer actions without considering their consequences. In this case, all the effect of the Council’s actions are in the court proceedings, reports and evidence. So, Miss X’s potential remedy lies via her own action in the courts, and we cannot investigate.
Final decision
- I cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint issues are not separable from what happened in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman