The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council’s children’s services. This is because the issues raised are about matters that have been considered during court proceedings and because there are other bodies better placed to consider other matters.
The complaint
Ms X complains about how the Council dealt with child protection matters concerning her children. She complains about inaccurate information that was included in reports and subsequently provided to the courts, the conduct of social workers and about how the Council dealt with her complaints about these matters.
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, section 34(B)) 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 and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because the law does not allow us to investigate complaints about what has happened in court. This includes the contents of any reports provided by the Council to the courts during proceedings. If Ms X feels the Council or any third party is processing inaccurate information about her it would be reasonable for her to raise this with the Information Commissioner.
I will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the conduct of social workers during the Council’s involvement with Ms X and her family. This is because Social Work England are better placed to consider complaints about the professional conduct of social workers.
Finally, I will not investigate how the Council dealt with Ms X’s complaints about these matters. It is not a good use of public funds to investigate complaint handling when we have decided not to investigate the substantive issues raised in a complaint.
Final decision
I will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is about matters that have been considered in court and other bodies are better placed to consider other matters.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman