The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about a social worker’s court ordered report. The law says we cannot investigate complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.
The complaint
Mr X complains about a court ordered report completed by a social worker in early 2020 for family court proceedings. Mr X says the report was an unprofessional and emotional account which contained false and damaging allegations against him, which he can prove are not true. He also complains about the impact of the report’s contents on both him and his son.
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
The Council told Mr X it cannot accept a complaint about the court report from him because the report forms part of the court proceedings. It said he would need to return to court to challenge the decisions made.
We cannot investigate this complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court, or which could have been raised to the court during proceedings. This restriction means we cannot consider complaints about evidence provided to the court or about actions in the preparation of evidence and reports for the court. This is because the report forms part of the proceedings and so is not clearly separable from them. It is not a matter the law allows us to consider.
The complaint also lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says complaints should be made to us within 12 months of the person first becoming aware of the matter. However, due to the restriction set out above this is not a complaint we could have investigated even if it had been made to us within 12 months. This is because it is about a matter the law prevents us from investigating.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and the law says we have no discretion to consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman