Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about matters relating to the Council’s child protection involvement with her child. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst the case is subject to ongoing court proceedings.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains about the Council’s actions in its child protection involvement with her child. The case is subject to ongoing court proceedings. Miss X says she has not been given enough time with her daughter nor enough chances to have her daughter returned to her care. She says she has been wrongly accused of neglecting her child. Miss X also complains the Council has told her it may not accept a complaint from her following the proceedings.

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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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X complained to the Council about its actions and decisions in its child protection involvement with her child. The case is currently subject to ongoing court proceedings.
7. The Council told Miss X it would not consider her complaint via its complaints procedure whilst the court proceedings are ongoing. It explained the complaint can be resubmitted for consideration of any matters not covered by the court proceedings once they have concluded.
8. Miss X also complains the Council has told her that if she resubmits her complaint following the proceedings it will need to consider whether she has sufficient interest in the child’s welfare to make a complaint. I can see from the documents provided that the Council made this comment in its response to a complaint it received from other family members and not to Miss X.
9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint whilst the case is subject to ongoing court proceedings. This is a decision the Council is entitled to make and it has been made in line with the relevant statutory guidance to local authority children’s services on the handling of complaints where there are ongoing proceedings. This is in order to prevent any ongoing proceedings from being prejudiced by a concurrent complaint investigation.
10. Miss X will be able to resubmit her complaint to the Council once the proceedings have concluded to see whether there are any residual matters it can consider.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate her complaint whilst there are ongoing court proceedings.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman