The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about evidence given to a Court as it forms part of those legal proceedings. Social Work England is better placed to consider her complaint about a social worker’s professionalism.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, says the Council issued court proceedings on inaccurate information, and provided the Court with inaccurate information. She also complains about a social worker’s actions.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) 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)
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 says a Council social worker issued Court care proceedings based on incomplete and flawed information. She says the officer did not follow the Court’s directions and used ‘illegal’ evidence in Court. She says the officer bullied her.
We cannot investigate the content of evidence given by the Council to a Court.
Our role is to investigate the actions of the Council as a corporate body, not to hold a single officer accountable. If Miss X has concerns about the professionalism or integrity of an individual social worker, it is reasonable to expect her to report her concerns to their professional body, Social Work England.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because as we cannot investigate the evidence given to a Court and Social Work England are better placed to consider her complaint about the social worker’s professionalism.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman