Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about records which contributed towards a report prepared for the courts. This is because the law says we cannot investigate complaints where there has been a commencement of proceedings before any court of law.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complains about the wording of a record regarding an incident involving her child. This record formed part of safeguarding investigations undertaken by CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) and was used to form a Section 7 report (Children Act 1989) for private family law proceedings.

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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 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. 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

6. I considered information provided by Miss Y and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss Y says the Council recorded inaccurate information and wants this amending. She complained to the Council about this. The Council said it considered Miss Y’s complaint to be about a breach of the UK GDPR or the Data Protection Act 2018 and therefore will not consider this under its complaint process. It signposted Miss Y to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
9. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
10. Miss Y says the Council misunderstood her complaint. The Council says it considered Miss Y’s complaint in line with its complaint procedure.
11. We cannot investigate complaints about the contents of reports that form part of court proceedings. As the matters raised within Miss Y’s complaint to us are closely linked to matters which were part of legal proceedings, we cannot investigate this complaint further. This is because the law prevents us from doing so.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Miss Y’s complaint because the law says we cannot investigate complaints where there has been a commencement of proceedings before any court of law.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman