Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council’s children’s services. This is because it concerns matters that have been considered in court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains on behalf of his partner, Miss Y, about the actions of a social worker allocated to his family to carry out a Section 7 report. Mr X complains about the conduct of the social worker, the contents of the report and how the Council dealt with his complaint.

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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 about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. I cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court. We have no discretion to do so. The court has considered the report as part of its decision making. Because Section 7 reports form part of court proceedings, we have no jurisdiction to investigate complaints about their preparation or content.
8. Mr X’s concerns about the professional conduct of the social worker allocated to the case would be better placed with Social Work England.
9. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
    

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns matters that have been considered in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman