London Borough of Ealing (26 003 183)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 26 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint that the Council was at fault in preparing a report for a court. By law, we cannot consider the content or preparation of court reports.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains that the Council has declined to accept and consider his complaint about a report completed under section 7 of the Children Act 1989.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X’s complaint concerns a report completed under section 7 of the Children Act 1989 in the course of private law proceedings relating to his child. He complains that both the content and the processes by which the report was prepared were flawed, including delay in its submission. He contends that the Council has unreasonably declined to accept and respond to his subsequent complaint, erroneously conflating it with an earlier complaint about separate matters.
- As part of private law proceedings involving children, the court may ask the Council to produce a section 7 report. The court will then consider the report as part of its decision making. Because section 7 reports form part of court proceedings, we have no jurisdiction to investigate their preparation or content. By law, we cannot therefore investigate Mr X’s complaint.
- Where a substantive matter does not fall to be investigated, we will not normally consider how a Council has considered a complaint about it. It is not a good use of our resources to do so. That is the case here.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns a report prepared for a court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman