Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (26 003 616)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 24 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to consider her concerns about the production of a report for a court. This is because the law prevents us from considering matters relating to the preparation of court reports.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the Council has declined to investigate her concerns about the actions of its officers in producing a report for a court.
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
- Mrs X is party to private law proceedings, as part of which the Council was required to complete a report under section 37 of the Children Act 1989. She complained to the Council about the report’s content and the actions of officers in the course of its preparation. The Council declined to investigate her complaint.
- Mrs X complains to the Ombudsman about that decision. She argues that, in refusing to consider her complaint, the Council has failed to distinguish between evidence before the Family Court and complaints about professional conduct, factual accuracy, and governance. She says the decision amounts to the application of a blanket exemption from scrutiny
- As part of private law proceedings involving children, the court may ask the Council to produce a section 37 report. The court will then consider the report as part of its decision making. Because section 37 reports form part of court proceedings, we have no jurisdiction to investigate their preparation or content. This includes the matters Mrs X set out in her 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 Mrs X’s complaint because we cannot consider matters relating to the production of a court report.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman