The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about children services actions as the Courts are considering the events which led to the complaint.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains about the Council’s children services actions.
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 can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), 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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the Council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the Council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X complained to the Council in May 2021 about Council’s children services actions with her family. This includes lack of support, assessments’ content, meetings’ administration and how its officers conducted home visits.
The Council suspended its consideration of her complaints because the Courts were considering her children’s care to which her complaint related. The Council says that remains the same now.
Councils can refuse to consider a complaint if investigating a complaint could prejudice concurrent court proceedings. However, after the proceedings have ended, a complainant can resubmit the complaint for the council to consider.
Once the court proceedings have finished it is reasonable to expect Miss X to complete the Council’s complaint proceedings before we could consider her complaint. We may then be able to consider issues which are separable from the Court proceedings.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is not appropriate to do so whilst related court proceedings continue.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman