The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate the aspects of Miss X’s complaint which are linked to Court proceedings. It is reasonable to expect her to complain to the Council once those proceedings have finished on issues which can be separated from the Court proceedings.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, says a Council’s children services officer team gave inconsistent information.
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) 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I considered Miss X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.
My assessment
Miss X says a Council’s children services officer told her information about concerns it had for her child’s welfare whilst they were with their father. She says, that because of this information, she applied to Court to change the child’s child arrangement order.
Miss X says the officer changed their view. She says she feels unsupported.
The Council has explained in detail the sequence of events. It says it has provided the Court proceedings with a report. It says it will not consider her complaint about events separable from the Court proceedings until they have finished.
We cannot investigate the preparation, collation, and analysis of evidence, including reports written by social workers or other officers for court proceedings. This includes the use of a report written previously, in later court proceedings, and evidence given by council officers in any proceedings.
We are unlikely to find fault with the Council’s decision not to consider Miss X’s complaint until after the Court proceedings have finished.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint which is linked to the Court proceedings. We will not investigate any issue which is separable from those proceedings as it is reasonable to expect Miss X to complete the Council’s complaint process once those proceedings have finished.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman