Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are, or have been, considered in court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains a social worker failed to provide relevant information to the family court during ongoing proceedings, and about the impact of this. She also complains a court order has been breached.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
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 the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X complained a social worker failed to provide relevant information about her stepson’s (Y’s) wishes to the court in ongoing family court proceedings and that as a result the court ordered Y should have regular contact with his mother. Mrs X says this is causing Y distress and it is negatively impacting his mental health. Mrs X also complains Y’s mother has breached the court order on three occasions.
8. The Council told Mrs X it could not consider her complaint about these issues as it was about matters that had been decided in court proceedings. It signposted Mrs X to this office.
9. This is not a matter we can investigate. Complaints about matters which have been, or are being, considered in court lie outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider them. Any dissatisfaction with the information provided to the court should be raised to the court so that it can consider it before the proceedings have concluded. If Mrs X considers a court order has been breached this is also a matter to be raised to the courts. It will then be able to reach a view on whether a breach has occurred and, if so, what if any action to take. It is not a matter we can decide.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been, or are being, considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman