Kingston Upon Hull City Council (26 016 339)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 Sep 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions during court proceedings. There is insufficient evidence of fault in its complaint handling to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
- Ms X complains about Council delay completing assessments and poor communication during court proceedings. She also complains it has refused to investigate her complaint about the matter.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We cannot investigate the Council’s conduct during court proceedings. We have no legal power to do so. This includes concerns about communication or delay, or any assessments or reports completed as part of the court process.
- We will also not investigate the Council’s refusal to consider her complaint. Councils have discretion to refuse a complaint whether there are concurrent court proceedings. It appropriately advised her she could raise her concerns with the court through her legal representative. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to warrant an investigation.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s conduct during court proceedings. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s complaint handling to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman