Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of an assessment. This is because we cannot investigate complaints about what happened in court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about:
• Delay by the Council to complete a viability assessment;
• The outcome of the viability assessment;
• The Council’s response to his complaint about the viability assessment; and
• The Council’s offer of unsuitable temporary accommodation.
2. A viability assessment is used by family court to assess whether carers can meet a child’s needs.

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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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. 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)
6. 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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
7. 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), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. Mr X says the Council took three years to complete a viability assessment. This assessment is not separable from what happened at court and therefore we cannot investigate. In any case, this complaint is also late.
11. Mr X is unhappy with the contents of the viability assessment. Mr X could have raised his concerns at court, and we cannot investigate what happened at court.
12. The Council informed Mr X it cannot investigate his complaint about the viability assessment under its complaints procedure because the decision was made by the court. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify further investigation.
13. Mr X has used his right of review about the suitability of accommodation offered by the Council. This review is ongoing. If the Council’s review decides the accommodation is unsuitable, the Council must provide suitable accommodation. If the review decides the accommodation is suitable, it is reasonable for Mr X to use his right to appeal to the county court on a point of law.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate what happened in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman