The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council refusing her request to take her child abroad. She has now asked the Court for its view, and we would be unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision not to reply to her complaint while those proceedings continue.
The complaint
Miss X says the Council has not properly considered and replied to her request about contact with her child, B.
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 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council look after B. Miss X has face to face contact. In 2023 the Council agreed this could become unsupervised. Miss X asked the Council for permission to take B abroad on holiday. Miss X cannot remove B from the country without either the Council’s or the Court’s permission. The Council considered her request, and assessed the situation. It decided not to agree. Miss X complained in early December 2023.
The Council replied to Miss X in February 2024. It accepted it had delayed in replying to her complaint and offered £150 for that delay. It explained why the Council had refused her request.
The Council has since said Miss X has applied to Court.
Analysis We cannot investigate issues which a Court has or could have considered. Miss X now has the opportunity to ask the Court for permission to take B abroad.
The Council says it will not be able to consider her complaint at any further stage of its complaint’s procedure while the court proceedings continue. We are unlikely to criticise this decision. Miss X’s complaint is one which falls within the Children Act statutory complaints procedure. There are three stages. The Council so far has replied at stage one. The complaint procedure guidance allows Councils to suspend the complaint process while related court proceedings are ongoing.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we cannot investigate issues which a court is considering and we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision not to reply to a complaint further.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman