Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with his children. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider his complaint whilst the case was subject to ongoing court proceedings. Now the proceedings have concluded, Mr X can provide the Council with the full details of his resubmitted complaint, as requested, so that it can assess it to see if it can consider it now.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with his family. Mr X’s children were removed from his and his wife’s care in early 2023 and placed in foster care. The case was subject to court proceedings but these have now concluded. Mr X also seeks compensation for the Council’s actions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We do not start or continue 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))
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained to the Council in early 2023 about his children being removed from his care and placed in foster care. The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint at that time because the matter was subject to ongoing court proceedings. It explained that once the court proceedings had concluded it would be open to Mr X to resubmit his complaint to the Council to consider any matters which were not, and could not have been, raised and considered in the court proceedings. It signposted Mr X to this office if he remained dissatisfied with its decision.
9. There is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider Mr X’s complaint whilst the case was being considered in court proceedings. The Council made this decision in line with the statutory guidance to local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints where there are ongoing proceedings. This is to prevent the proceedings from being prejudiced by a concurrent complaint investigation.
10. The proceedings have now concluded. Mr X contacted the Council about resubmitting his complaint. The Council asked Mr X to provide more detail about his complaint now so that it can assess it. The Council has not yet received the further information from Mr X. It explained to Mr X that a compensation claim cannot be considered via its complaints procedure. It advised Mr X to speak to his legal representative about this.

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Final decision

11. 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 in 2023 and it is now open to Mr X to provide additional information on his complaint to the Council so that it can assess it and decide whether it can consider it via its complaints procedure now. Once the Council has considered Mr X’s resubmitted complaint it will signpost him back to this office if he remains dissatisfied. However, we cannot consider complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings or which could have been raised in the proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman