The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the conduct of a social worker during court proceedings. The law prevents us from investigating what happened in court and there is another body better placed to consider the conduct of social workers.
The complaint
Ms X complains about the actions and conduct of her family’s former social worker in relation to proceedings in the family court. Ms X says the social worker made recommendations that contradicted a court order, ignored known safeguarding risks and perverted the course of justice.
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 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.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint. The matters she raises relate to information the Council provided in a Section 7 report as part of court proceedings, and therefore we do not have the power to investigate this. The law prevents us from investigating anything that has formed part of court proceedings. This includes the preparation and contents of reports presented to the courts by the Council.
Ms X has already complained to Social Work England, who are better placed to investigate if a social worker has breached professional conduct.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because the issues raised relate to what happened in court and because there is another body better placed to consider the conduct of the social worker.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman