The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint about the care of his child as we are not able to investigate the Council’s actions regarding his child. This is because there has been court action concerning the safeguarding of Mr X’s child. That means a legal bar now prevents us investigating these matters.
The complaint
Mr X said the Council failed to deal properly with his complaint about its actions concerning his child. He said a social worker forced his child to testify against him, and wrote things about him in a report that were not true.
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) We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended) We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B)) The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I have not considered matters relating to Mr X’s mother. That is the subject of a separate complaint to us.
My assessment
The Council gained court orders to protect Mr X’s child and to prevent his contact with the child. That triggers a legal bar that prevents us considering the Council’s safeguarding actions to protect the child, the reports it wrote, and also how the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint about its actions. We cannot investigate these matters.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the matters complained of have been subject to court action. A legal bar prevents us doing so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman