Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s decisions about the care of Miss X’s child. We considered this matter up to late 2023 in complaint 23 010 219 and will not do so again. The matters Miss X complains of have been subject to further court action since then. We are legally prevented from considering matters that have been before a court.

The complaint

1. Miss X said the Council favoured her former partner, failed to recognise she had been subject to domestic abuse, and fabricated evidence to mislead the courts.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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Final decision

8. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint after late 2023 because the matters she complains of have been subject to court action, which legally prevents us investigating them. The same matters before late 2023 were previously considered in complaint 23 010 219 and we will not consider them a second time.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman