The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains about matters relating to the Council’s child protection involvement with his family. The case is subject to ongoing court proceedings.
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) We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council about its actions in relation to its child protection involvement with his family.
The Council told Mr X it cannot investigate his complaint via its complaints procedure at present because the matters are subject to ongoing court proceedings.
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings. This is to prevent the court proceedings, which must take precedence over any complaint investigation, from being prejudiced by a concurrent complaint investigation. This approach is in line with the guidance to local authorities on the handling of children’s services complaints which gives it discretion to decide not to investigate a complaint where to do so could prejudice any ongoing proceedings.
It will be open to Mr X to ask the Council to consider his complaint once the court proceedings have concluded to see whether there are any matters separable from the court proceedings which it will consider. The law prevents us from considering complaints about matters that are being or have been considered in court, or which could have been reasonably expected to have been raised in court.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman