Buckinghamshire Council (22 015 539)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Mar 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about a court report and what happened in court because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains an officer who completed a court ordered report was biased against her in favour of the father of her children. She questions whether the officer had a prior connection to him. Miss X says the officer lied to and misled the court and this impacted the court’s decisions.
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 information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X complained to the Council about the contents of a Section 7 court ordered report and about the officer who completed it.
- The Council initially told Miss X that whilst it could not consider her complaint about the report it would consider her complaint about the officer. The Council later decided it could not consider the issues raised about the officer separately to the court report and the proceedings. It told Miss X that any challenges to the report should be made to the court.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is about matters that have been considered in court. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been, or are being, considered in court proceedings. This restriction includes reports which are provided to the court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman