The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about matters relating to her grandchildren being removed from their mother’s care because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from considering complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains on behalf of her daughter Ms Y. She complains about the decision to remove Ms Y’s children from her care; about the assessments the Council provided to the court during the proceedings and about who the children were placed with. Miss X would like the social worker’s actions in the case investigated.
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 may decide not to start an investigation if 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X complains on behalf of her daughter, Ms Y. She complained Ms Y’s children were removed from her care without false allegations against her being investigated. She also complained the Council’s assessments which were presented to the court included incorrect information, false allegations and bullied the family. Miss X says the assessments gave instructions which led to Ms Y becoming homeless. She also complained about the people who the children were placed with as they had the same issues as Ms Y, which led to her children being removed.
This is not a complaint we can investigate. This is because it is about matters that have been subject to court proceedings. Complaints about matters that have been considered in court lie outside our jurisdiction and the law prevents us from considering them.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is about matters that have been considered and decided in court proceedings. We have no discretion to consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman