The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because an investigation by this office could not add to the response the Council has provided explaining the ongoing family court proceedings need to conclude before it can consider his substantive complaint.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint about information the Council has provided to the court in ongoing court proceedings until the court proceedings have concluded. Mr X says the Council has provided the court with false, biased and inaccurate information and he is concerned it will do the same in its court ordered report.
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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) We do not start an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) 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 considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council about information it has provided to the court in ongoing family court proceedings.
The Council told Mr X it will not consider his complaint until the ongoing court proceedings are concluded because it could be prejudicial to the court proceedings. It has told Mr X it can consider a complaint from him once the court proceedings have concluded.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is nothing further we could add to the Council’s response which explains why it will not consider his complaint until the court proceedings have concluded. There is no sign of fault in this approach and it is in line with its complaints policy. Mr X should inform the court or his legal representative of his concerns about the information the Council provides to the court during the court proceedings so the court can consider them before making a decision.
If Mr X complains to the Council following the court proceedings and remains dissatisfied following its final response then he can ask us to consider it. However it is unlikely to be a matter we could investigate. This is because the law prevents us from considering complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman