Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling and preparation of a court report. The law prevents us from investigating matters that were considered in court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling and preparation of a court report. He says the assessment was unprofessional, biased, and recorded information that was inaccurate or not sufficiently supported by reliable evidence. He also complains about the Council’s handling of his complaints.
2. Mr X says the matter caused extended periods of time with no, or limited, access to his child. He also says it impacted the court proceedings.
3. Mr X wants the Council to acknowledge its failures, apologise and amend their records. He also wants the Council to commence disciplinary proceedings against the social worker involved and to offer him financial compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Mr X.
8. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. The law prevents us from investigating matters about the preparation and contents of court reports. This means we cannot consider the social worker’s assessment in preparing the report, including any allegations of bias, unprofessional behaviour or any alleged inaccuracies contained in the report. We also cannot say whether the report affected Mr X’s access to his child or impacted the court proceedings. It was open for Mr X to challenge the contents of the report, and raise any concerns about the assessment process, during the court proceedings.
10. We also cannot require the Council to commence disciplinary proceedings against the social worker involved, or consider whether the social worker met their professional standards of conduct. Complaints of this nature should be referred to the social workers’ professional body, Social Work England.
11. As a public funded body, we must be careful with how we use our resources. As we are not investigating the substantive part of Mr X’s complaint, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate the complaint handling in isolation.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating the contents and preparation of court reports. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate the complaint handling in isolation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman