Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about bias by the Council in matters relating to the care of her child as shown by court-ordered disclosures. The contents of those disclosures were part of court action. As these matters are outside our legal powers, we cannot investigate how the Council is dealing with Ms X’s complaint about them.

The complaint

1. Ms X said the Council acted with bias. She said a Council officer who investigated a complaint she made several years ago later went on to play a part in an attempt to remove her child. She said court disclosures demonstrate there was malpractice by Council officers, who enabled her former partner to pursue a course of action against her. She said the Council is now allowing one of the people she complained about to investigate her complaint about these matters.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
5. The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The matters Ms X complains of relate to long-running issues involving her former partner and the Council’s actions. She has stated that there was court action over a period of three years, ending in a lengthy hearing. She has also stated that many of the issues she is raising were confirmed in documents that the court ordered to be disclosed. The effect of the legal bar against us investigating matters closely linked to court action is wide-ranging. It is permanent, and includes the contents of documents disclosed during the court action. Given the issue at hand was the care of a child, information about the alleged bias of Council officers in favour of Ms X’s ex-partner was a matter that could reasonably have been raised in court. It is unlikely that any part of the complaint Ms X has made to us could be separated from the court action.
9. We cannot investigate which officer the Council has appointed to deal with Ms X’s complaint about these matters because they are outside our legal powers.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint because:

• The substantive matters she complains of are closely linked to court action and could reasonably have been raised in court; and
• We cannot investigate how the Council is investigating matters we cannot ourselves investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman