The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about a court ordered report because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.
The complaint
Mr X complains about a social worker’s court ordered report which was flawed and biased. He says the report omitted serious safeguarding concerns raised by his son; made misleading conclusions which favoured his son’s mother and had omissions which appeared designed to influence the court in favour of a predetermined outcome. Mr X says this has led to him being stripped of direct contact with his son and concerned for his son’s safety.
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) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council about the matter set out in paragraph one, above.
The Council told Mr X it could not consider his complaint via its complaints procedure because it was about matters that were being considered in court proceedings. It advised Mr X to raise his concerns to the court either directly or via his legal representative.
We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.
As part of private law proceedings involving children, the court may ask the Council to produce a section 7 report. The court will then consider the report as part of its decision making. Because section 7 reports form part of court proceedings, we have no jurisdiction to investigate complaints relating to their preparation or content. Any dissatisfaction with the court report would need to have been raised to the court during the proceedings. It is not a matter we can consider.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman