Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a social worker’s involvement in a court report. The law prevents us considering such complaints.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the social worker who has been allocated to write a section 7 report for court proceedings.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. As part of private law proceedings involving children, the court may ask the Council to produce a section 7 report. The court will then consider the report as part of its decision making. Mr X is dissatisfied that this particular social worker is writing the report. He wants a different social worker to do this.
6. The court ordered the section 7 report, so any concerns about how it was prepared or what it contains relate to the court proceedings, which the law prevents us from considering.

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Final decision

7. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating the conduct of court action.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman