The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s report written as part of court proceedings. The law prevents us from doing so.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council’s involvement during private court proceedings relating to his children. He complained about the content of the Council’s Section 7 report, and said it then refused to consider his complaint.
Mr X said the matter has caused him significant distress, and he wanted the Council to investigate the matter and apologise.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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
The law prevents us form investigating complaints about what happened in court. This includes the content of the Council’s representations to court. The Section 7 report was instructed by the courts. We have no power to investigate a complaint about the matter.
It is not a good use of public funds to investigate complaints about complaints processes in isolation, when we cannot investigate the substantive complaint itself. We will therefore not consider Mr X’s complaint the Council refused to respond via its complaint process.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman