The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s children’s services involvement in Miss X’s child’s case. The complaint is about the content of a report written for court and related matters. The law prevents us from investigating what happens in court, and the related matters are not separable from the proceedings themselves. The Information Commissioner is the body best placed to consider complaints about data protection.
The complaint
Miss X complained the Council: failed to include her child protection concerns in court reports and was biased; ignored her attempts to make contact; wrongly shared information, contrary to data protection legislation; did not give her sufficient opportunity to contribute in meetings; and did not properly respond to her complaint.
She said the matter had caused significant distress. She wanted the Council to dismiss the responsible social worker and allocate a new one to her child’s case.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin)) We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The law expressly prohibits us from investigating what happens as part of court proceedings. This includes: the content of reports written for, or used in, court; and the actions of social workers when compiling evidence for those reports, where the alleged impact of their actions is what they presented to the court.
We cannot influence the outcome of court proceedings. It is reasonable for Miss X to raise her concerns as part of the proceedings, insofar as they may impact the weight the judge assigns to the Council’s representations.
We will not investigate the actions of the social worker, who Miss X says ignored her contact and did not enable her to contribute in meetings. This is ultimately not separable from the substantive complaint which is the subsequent content of the social worker’s report. We will also not investigate the Council’s complaint-handling in isolation.
It is open to Miss X to contact the Information Commissioner about her complaint the Council wrongly shared information. It is the body best placed to consider complaints about how councils handle people’s information.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the law prevents us investigating what happens as part of court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman