Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s Section 7 court report. The law prevents us from considering what happened in court. Peripheral complaints about the Council’s related actions are inextricably linked to the court proceedings.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council submitted a dishonest report as part of family court proceedings. Her concerns included:
• the Council not properly reviewing her evidence;
• it making unsafe recommendations;
• collusion, lack of independence and predetermined decision-making; and
• the social worker’s associated actions which Miss X considered dismissive and condescending.
2. Miss X said this caused significant distress and impacted the court proceedings. She wanted the Council to compensate her for distress, the impact of safeguarding failings and her time and trouble pursuing a complaint. She also wanted disciplinary and corrective action and service improvements.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (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 law prevents us from investigating what happens in court. This includes the content of a council’s report written for court. Miss X’s complaints about bias and the recommendations the Council made to court are matters we have no legal power to investigate. It was open to Miss X to raise her concerns about the impartiality of the Council’s representations during the proceedings. Only the courts could reconsider the matter.
9. Miss X’s complaint includes concerns about peripheral matters such as the social worker’s attitude towards her. These complaints are not separable from the matters that were considered in court. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate such peripheral matters when we cannot consider the substantive matter. These complaints could not be investigated without encroaching upon the role of the courts. We will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is about matters that have been considered in court, which the law prevents us from investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman