The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the contents of a court report or the outcome of the related court proceedings. The law does not allow us to investigate matters which have been subject to court proceedings.
The complaint
Miss X complained about the contents of a court report filed by a social worker. Miss X said the report was missing lots of information, which she believes influenced the court’s decision.
Miss X said this has caused her fear for her child’s (Y) welfare.
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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X complained about the content of a court report filed by a social worker on behalf of the Council. Miss X raised many points about the information that she said was omitted from the report.
Miss X said the contents of this report had influenced the court’s decision to allow Y contact with his father, which would be supervised by the social worker who filed the report. Miss X said this causes her to fear for Y’s welfare.
As highlighted in paragraph 4, the Ombudsman cannot investigate matters relating to court proceedings as the law does not allow it. The matters Miss X complains about could have been or could be raised in court by Miss X or a legal representative. It would only be for the court to scrutinise any reports put before it. For this reason, we cannot investigate this complaint as none of the matters are separable from court proceedings.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because the law does not allow it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman