The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council is treating him unfairly in its children’s services involvement with his family. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst the case is subject to ongoing court proceedings.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council is treating him unfairly in its children’s services involvement with his family. He says he is being treated as high risk without clear evidence and decisions are made without his involvement or knowledge which impact his son’s life. Mr X says the Council does not communicate with him and rejects his requests without explanation.
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 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 the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint because the case is currently subject to court proceedings. It advised Mr X to raise his concerns with his legal representative and signposted him to this office if he was dissatisfied with its decision.
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst the case is subject to court proceedings. This is a decision the Council has discretion to make and ensures the proceedings, which must take precedence over a complaint investigation, cannot be at risk of being prejudiced by a concurrent investigation. It has made its decision in line with the statutory guidance to local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints where there are already ongoing proceedings.
Mr X can resubmit a complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded to see whether it considers there are any residual matters that are separable from the court proceedings and which were not, and could not have been raised and considered as part of the proceedings.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman