Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about a social worker’s reports which have been considered in court proceedings because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings, we have no discretion to do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about a social workers reports which were considered in court proceedings. Mr X says the reports were biased, misleading and inaccurate and have impacted the court’s decision in favour of his childrens’ mother. Mr X says his children have been removed from his care due to the false information provided in the 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.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X complains about a social worker’s reports, as set out above.
8. We cannot investigate this complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. This is because the law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so. This restriction means we cannot investigate complaints about evidence or reports the Council has provided to the court.
9. Any dissatisfaction with the evidence provided to the court should have been challenged during the proceedings so that it could be considered by the court before it reached its decision. Any dissatisfaction with the court’s decision would need to be returned to the court. We cannot consider it.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Mr 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