Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the residence and contact arrangements for Mrs X’s grandchild. The current arrangements were set by a court and only a court could specify different arrangements. It would therefore be reasonable for Mrs X to go to court to seek changed arrangements. Another body is better placed than us to consider complaints about data disclosure.

The complaint

Mrs X said the Council refused to allow her a separate contact with her grandchild and had reduced it. She complained of the Council’s actions in 2021 and 2022, and said the Council had not responded properly to a request for data or listened to concerns the family had about the foster carer. She wanted the Council to discuss contact arrangements and to release documents it had refused to release.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
2. 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))
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Our previous decision in complaint 21 010 081 covered matters up to July 2021. Since then, the correspondence Mrs X sent us shows us a court has decided the care arrangements for her grandchild. The Council’s actions in deciding Mrs X should not care for her grandchild and in placing the child with foster carers either were or could reasonably have been raised in court. The complaint about the Council’s actions in late 2021 and 2022 is not separable from that and we have no authority to consider it.
8. Only a court could specify different contact arrangements between Mrs X and her grandchild than those currently provided for by the Council. And given the Council does not share Mrs X’s concerns about the foster carer, only a court could specify different care arrangements. We cannot specify what any contact arrangements should be, and it follows that recommending the Council discusses contact arrangements with the family would involve us trespassing on ground that is proper for a court. Therefore, it would be reasonable for Mrs X to seek changed contact and/or residence arrangements via a court.
9. The Information Commissioner Office (ICO) has powers to order the disclosure of documents that we do not have. Therefore, it is better placed than us to consider the Council’s refusal to disclose data to Mrs X.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because:

• We cannot investigate matters that were or could reasonably have been raised during court action, regardless of which party initiated it;
• Matters concerned contact with children are ones only a court can resolve, and it would therefore be reasonable for Mrs X to go to court to seek changed arrangements for contact between her grandchild and her family; and
• The ICO is better placed than us to consider the refusal of the Council to disclose data sought by Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman