Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about children’s court reports because we cannot investigate a complaint about what happened in court.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained the Council has written incorrect information in reports provided to the court and has made false allegations against him in court.
2. Mr Y says this has led to his contact with his children being reduced, causing him distress.

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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. 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))
6. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
7. 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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. The law prevents us from becoming involved in matters that are or have been the subject of court proceedings. Section 37 reports, such as that Mr Y has complained about, are presented as part of court proceedings under the Children Act 1989. The reports therefore form part of the court’s consideration of the case.
10. Any contact arrangements and reports for the court have been part of legal proceedings so we do not have the power to investigate these matters. We cannot investigate.
11. Further, as the court hearing in which the reports Mr Y has complained about are being presented have now happened, it is reasonable to have expected Mr Y to raise his views about the contents of the report with the court. Consequently, we will not investigate this complaint.
12. Mr Y has also said his desired outcome is to have two of the Council’s staff involved in his case sacked. This is not an outcome we can achieve as we do not have the power to recommend this as a remedy. Therefore, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Mr Y’s complaint because we cannot investigate a complaint about what happened in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman