The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s children’s services involvement with the complainant family. This is because the complaint concerns matters that either were or could reasonably be raised in court.
The complaint
Miss X complains about the Council’s children’s services and its involvement with her family. She says that the Council’s assessments are biased and fail to recognise a pattern of abuse. She says the assessments have impacted the care and contact arrangements of her child.
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) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The law says that we cannot investigate matters either decided in court of which could reasonably be raised in court. This includes the submission of assessments by the Council to the courts, including Section 7 reports. If Miss X disagreed with the Council’s assessment it is reasonable to expect her to raise this during proceedings. We have no powers to say what access Miss X should have to her child. This is a matter for the courts to decide.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it concerns matters that have been or could have been raised in court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman