The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint about the contents of a court report and a social worker failing to attend a court hearing without notice. This is because the complaint concerns matters which have been considered in court or are closely related to those matters.
The complaint
Miss B complains the Council included information about a confidential phone call in a court report it produced for ongoing court proceedings. She also complains a social worker failed to attend a court hearing without notice. She says this caused her anxiety and frustration and she feels the Council has treated her unfairly.
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 have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B)) 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
Miss B’s child was the subject of court proceedings about their care. She says the Council provided a report to the court, containing information about a confidential phone call she had had with the police. She says a social worker also failed to attend a court hearing, so she could not address her concerns during the hearing.
Miss B complained about this to the Council. The Council told her it will not be considering her complaints further. It said the courts should address the complaint about the court report. And it said it had already addressed the complaint about the social worker failing to attend a court hearing in its stage one complaint response, where it had recognised the error and apologised to Miss B.
The Ombudsman cannot investigate Miss B’s complaint because it concerns matters which have been the subject of court action, or are closely related to those matters. And the effects the situation has had on Miss B stem from the court proceedings, which by law, we cannot investigate any part of.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint because it concerns matters which have been considered in court or are closely related to those matters. There is no discretion available to us to investigate these matters.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman