Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council considers her partner a risk. That is because the Council has started court proceedings therefore the complaint is outside our jurisdiction. We will not investigate her complaint about how the Council conducted child protection meetings. That is because we could not add to the Council’s investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about how the Council supported her as part of child protection procedures. She said the Council disclosed personal information about her partner at a Review Child Protection Conference; that it brought up her own experience of abuse within the Initial Child Protection Conference, and that it forced her to agree to a Child Protection Plan. She said the Council had lied in reports.
2. Miss X said the Council has incorrectly assessed her partner as posing a risk to her and her children. She is unhappy with the Council’s decision to start court proceedings. She wants the Council to provide her appropriate support.

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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. 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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, and
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council disclosed personal information about her partner as part of a Review Child Protection Conference. That is because any disclosure has not caused her a significant personal injustice. In any event, the Council has explained that it was necessary to share the information as part of the conference. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council brought up her own experiences of abuse in a meeting. The Council said the people attending the meeting were trying to highlight their concerns with Miss X. It said her own experiences were not shared, but she was asked how she had felt as a child, to help understand the child’s perspective. It accepted Miss X found the meeting upsetting. Although Miss X remains unhappy, we could not add to the Council’s response.
11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about how it assessed the risk her partner posed, that it forced her to agree to a child protection plan, or that it lied in its reports. The Council has started court action about its child protection concerns. We have no jurisdiction to investigate matters that form part of court proceedings. Miss X’s complaints are too closely tied with the matters being considered by the court for us to investigate.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because the Council has started court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman