The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 have read all the complaint information sent in by Ms X and considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I also read Ms X’s previous complaint (21004830) which is very similar to this one.
My assessment
As I wrote in my previous decision to Ms X, we are prohibited from intervening in court proceedings. Even if council officers are involved.
This is because we cannot separately investigate council officer actions without considering their consequences. In this case, all the effect of the Council’s actions are in the court proceedings, reports and evidence. So, Ms X’s potential remedy lies via her own action in the courts, and we cannot investigate.
Final decision
I cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint issues are not separable from what happened in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman