Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (24 017 649)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Feb 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions when Mrs X’s relationship with her partner ended and afterwards. There has been family court action on several occasions relating to the care of a child or children, and the matters complained of are closely linked to that. A legal bar prevents us investigating these matters.
The complaint
- Mrs X said the Council was at fault when social services became involved with her family. She said the Council had failed to consider the holistic picture regarding her child or what led to the involvement of social services. She said it wrongly treated the removal of her youngest child by her ex-partner as a private matter.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
- 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The correspondence provided by Miss X and the Council confirms there was family court action in 2022, 2023 and 2024. The matters Mrs X complained of are closely related to matters of suitability to care for children that were or could reasonable have been raised in court.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is closely related to matters that were or could reasonably have been raised during court action. We are legally prevented from investigating such matters.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman