Slough Children's Services Trust (23 013 114)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Jan 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the contents of a report the Council submitted to the court because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from considering complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about a report the Council submitted to the court in family court proceedings. Mr X says the report contains false information.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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
- Mr X complained to the Council about the contents of a court report it submitted in family court proceedings.
- The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint. This is because the report has been considered by the court and any dissatisfaction with the contents should have been raised to the court during the proceedings by Mr X or his legal representative.
- This is not a complaint we can consider because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman