Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with her family because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with her family. Miss X says the Council has made serious false allegations against her which led to her being arrested and her children removed from her care. Miss X says the social worker has treated her unfairly and the Council has lied in its reports.

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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. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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

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

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My assessment

7. Miss X’s case is subject to both ongoing court proceedings and a police investigation in relation to serious allegations of abuse. The Council has told Miss X it will not consider her complaint due to the matter currently being considered in court and subject to an ongoing police investigation. It advised Miss X to seek advice from her legal representative about raising her concerns during the proceedings and confirmed that contact with her children will be decided by the court. It explained it cannot investigate matters that are subject a police investigation as it could be prejudicial to the investigation for it to do so.
8. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so. We also cannot consider matters that are being considered by the police. Allegations of crime are for the police to investigate and where applicable for the courts to decide.

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Final decision

9. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman