Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about information provided by the Council to a court resulting in his child being taken abroad. This is because we have no remit to consider matters that have been to court.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council provided misleading information to the family court which caused his child to be taken abroad.
2. Mr X says the Council has failed to investigate his complaint and he has been caused significant distress and anxiety.

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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)

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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. In short, Mr X complains about information provided by the Council to a court in the context of family court proceedings concerning his child. Mr X says the Council’s information caused the court to lift a travel restriction and his child was taken abroad. Mr X is dissatisfied the Council has failed to address his concerns and instead referred to its unreasonable customer behaviour policy.
8. We will not investigate. The Ombudsman cannot investigate matters which have been considered in court. Mr X’s injustice arises from the court’s decision and its consequences. This places the matter outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

9. Where a person disagrees with the evidence relied upon by a court, or believes a court was misled, the appropriate remedy is through the court process itself, including legal challenge or appeal, rather than investigation by the Ombudsman.
10. We cannot look at Mr X’s concerns about the complaint handling as this is inseparable from the underlying court proceedings and it would not be possible to look at in isolation from the court’s decision. Complaints about court decisions are excluded from council complaints procedures for this reason.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have no powers to consider matters decided in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman