Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint about a social worker’s court report until ongoing court proceedings have concluded. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about a social worker’s court ordered addendum report completed in ongoing court proceedings. Mr X says the report includes untrue and libellous comments about him which could lead to him having little, if any, contact with his son.

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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. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained to the Council about the contents of a social worker’s Section 7 addendum report for the court in his ongoing child custody case.
7. The Council told Mr X it was unable to accept his complaint due to the ongoing court proceedings. It advised Mr X he could raise his concerns with his legal representative and told him it could consider his complaint once the court proceedings have concluded.
8. There is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider Mr X’s complaint until the ongoing court proceedings have concluded. This is in order to ensure the court proceedings, which must take precedence, are not prejudiced.
9. If Mr X remains dissatisfied with the Council’s final response to his complaint, once it has considered it, we can assess it to see whether it is about a matter we can and should investigate. However, 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. This restriction also applies to reports which are submitted to the court.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint until ongoing court proceedings have concluded.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman