The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the care of the complainant’s children because it concerns matters which have been considered in court and we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant wants.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs B, complains that the Council has been at fault in the management of her children’s foster care.
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) The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by a council concerning a matter which is outside our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin)) The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs B’s children are in Council foster care. Mrs B complains that the Council’s social worker produced an inaccurate parenting assessment and that false information was provided to the Court. She further complains about the management of contact with her children. She wants the Council to replace the social worker and carry out a new assessment.
We cannot investigate Mrs B’s complaint. The correspondence she has provided shows that her son’s care plan is for adoption. This means his care and contact with him are being managed according to the Court’s order. This will also apply to any other child of Mrs B’s family in the Council’s care.
By law, the Ombudsman cannot investigate matters decided in court or the evidence on which those decisions were made. We cannot therefore consider the content of the parenting assessment or the frequency of contact. If Mrs B believes the Council is not acting in accordance with the court order her recourse is to go back to court.
It is also the case that investigation by the Ombudsman would not result in a change of social worker. It is for the Council to allocate cases to its staff and there is no role for the Ombudsman.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mrs B’s complaint because it concerns matters which have been considered in court and we cannot achieve the outcome Mrs B wants.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman