The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the contents of a court ordered report which has been considered in court proceedings because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from considering complaints about matters that have been considered in court, we have no discretion to do so.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the contents of a court ordered report which was considered in court proceedings in 2022.
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 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) 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
Mr X complained to the Council about the contents of a court ordered report which was considered in family court proceedings in 2022. Mr X says he only became aware of the contents of the report in mid-2023. He says it contains incorrect information which needs to be corrected as the report will be considered in further hearings and the incorrect information may impact the outcome of the proceedings.
The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint because it was about matters that happened over 12 months ago and because the report had been considered in court proceedings. It advised Mr X to seek advice via his legal representative should he wish to challenge the court’s decision.
We cannot investigate this complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is about a report that has been considered in court proceedings. The law prevents us from considering complaints about such matters. We have no discretion to do so.
Should Mr X wish to challenge the contents of the report in future hearings he should raise this to the court during the proceedings so that it can be considered by the court before the judge reaches a decision.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman