Summary: Ms X complains the Council advised her to have contact with her ex-partner despite a history of domestic abuse. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is about the Council’s actions during court proceedings which the law prevents us investigating, and related matters that are not separable from the court proceedings.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council should not have advised her to arrange contact with her ex-partner, given the history of domestic abuse. Ms X says the Council has not had due regard to her safety, or that of her child, and has advised her to put herself at risk of domestic abuse when arranging contact.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. Ms X complains about a report and visits carried out by the Council which were submitted in court. We will not investigate this part of the complaint as we cannot investigate issues about what happened in court. Any reports by the Council would have contributed to the decisions in court.
7. Ms X also complains about the social workers actions during a child and family assessment that took place in 2023. I am not investigating these parts of the complaint as they are late, and I have seen no good reason that Ms X could not have bought her complaint to us sooner.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
9. I invited Ms X and the Council to comment on my draft decision and considered any comments received.

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What I found

10. Ms X shares a child with her ex-husband. Her ex-husband made an application to court for a child arrangement order to decide contact arrangements with the child. The Court asked the Council to write a report and make recommendations towards parental contact with the child.
11. The Court issued a court order in April 2024 explaining how each parent will have contact with Child Y. This included how Ms X and her ex-partner will communicate with each other.
12. After the court order, Ms X discussed the above with the manager of social worker from the Council who wrote the report. She asked why she had needed to arrange contact given a history of domestic abuse.
13. The Council explained to Ms X that the Court wished to see Ms X working with her ex-partner amicably to benefit Child Y’s wellbeing.
14. Ms X complained to the Council that she should not have been asked to contact her ex-partner as this put her at risk of domestic abuse.
15. The Council said that is preferable for parents to make arrangements between themselves to promote amicable co-parenting. It said it had undertaken a thorough assessment of the family circumstances, which included the views of all parties. It had submitted this to the court. The court had oversight of all the information and did not make a request for further assessment.

Analysis

16. We are not investigating Ms X’s complaint. This is because the complaint centres around contact and conversations between Ms X and the Council during and about events that occurred during court proceedings. On balance, any conversations after the court order was referencing and directing Ms X back to the outcomes in the court order.
17. In response to our draft decision, Ms X explained that her complaint was about being left to arrange contact with her child and ex-partner during the process of the court mandated report. Ms X felt the social worker should have arranged contact during the writing of the report given the history of domestic abuse, but instead she was left to arrange contact.
18. Key information about the contact that took place was included in the Council’s report to court, as it was relevant to the court’s decision about the child’s welfare. Therefore, these events during the proceedings are not separable from the court process, and we cannot consider them. Ms X had the opportunity to raise any concerns about the Council’s actions during the proceedings as part of the court process.

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Final Decision

19. We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint as it is linked to court proceedings and the law says we cannot investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman