The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about a child protection plan which was considered in court proceedings because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about a child protection plan which was considered in family court proceedings.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X complains about the contents of a child protection plan from February 2020 which was considered in private family court proceedings. Ms X says the plan impacted the court’s findings.
Ms X complained to the Council about this in October 2022. The Council told Ms X it would not consider the complaint because it was about matters which happened over 12 months ago.
The Ombudsman also cannot investigate late complaints unless there are good reasons. Late complaints are where a person takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. However, we have no discretion to consider Ms X’s complaint. This is because it is about a matter that has been considered in court proceedings. Such matters lie outside our jurisdiction and the law prevents us from considering them.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman