Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his family’s case. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there were ongoing court proceedings.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his family’s case and its decision not to consider his complaint about it whilst there were ongoing court proceedings.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained to the Council about its handling of his family’s case which was subject to ongoing court proceedings.
7. The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint whilst there were ongoing court proceedings on the case because it could be prejudicial to the proceedings to do so. It advised Mr X to raise his concerns to his legal representative so they could be considered in court. It explained he could resubmit his complaint once the proceedings had concluded for consideration of any matters not considered in court.
8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint until the court proceedings had concluded. It is a decision it had discretion to make in line with the relevant guidance and is to avoid the risk of prejudicing the proceedings. The Council explained this in its response to Mr X and explained he would be able to submit his complaint once the proceedings concluded.
9. In response to our initial contact, Mr X told us the proceedings have concluded; he has resubmitted his complaint to the Council and it is currently considering it. The Council will signpost Mr X back to this office once it has completed its complaints procedure.
10. We cannot consider complaints about any matters that have been considered in court proceedings, or which could have been raised to, and consider by, the court. Such matters lie outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider them. This restriction also means we cannot consider complaints about the preparation, collation and contents of reports or evidence provided to the court. This is because the report forms part of the proceedings.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there were ongoing court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman