The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.
The complaint
The complainant, Miss X, complains her child was removed from her care without her permission and without a court order or police protection order in place. She also complains the Council has not provided copies of all the records she has requested.
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 do not start an investigation if we decide 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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
Miss X complained to the Council about the matters set out in paragraph 1, above.
The Council told Miss X it would not consider her complaint at this time because the case is subject to ongoing court proceedings. It explained its approach was in line with the relevant statutory guidance. This gives it discretion to decide not to investigate where there are ongoing proceedings and it decides it could be prejudicial to those proceedings to carry out a concurrent complaint investigation.
It will be open to Miss X to ask the Council to consider her complaint once the proceedings have concluded.
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate her complaint whilst there are ongoing proceedings. It is a decision it has discretion to make.
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council has not provided copies of all the records she requested. This is because complaints about data matters are best considered by the Information Commissioner’s Office which is the body set up to consider data matters such as this.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate whilst there are ongoing proceedings and the data matter is best considered by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman