Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the contents of a Section 7 report compiled by the Council’s children’s services. This is because the law prevents us from investigating what happened in court, which includes the preparation and contents of the Council’s report. There is insufficient evidence of fault with how the Council has dealt with matters since court proceedings concluded.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the actions of the Council’s children’s services in relation to the care of her children. Ms X says the Council has produced a biased and inaccurate report and that her children continue to suffer from neglect.

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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 impact 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 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))
3. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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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. The Council compiled a Section 7 report. This is a court-ordered report, to assist the judge in making decisions about what is best for the children’s welfare.
7. I cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the preparation or contents of the report because the law prevents us from investigating what happened in court, which includes the content of reports a council submits as part of proceedings.
8. Ms X also raised concerns about the welfare of her children since court proceedings. The Council said that its children’s services case had since been closed. However, it had considered information that Ms X provided along with information from the children’s school and concluded that there was no present role for children’s services. Whilst Ms X may strongly disagree with this conclusion, there is insufficient evidence of fault in how it was reached and therefore we cannot question the merits of the decision.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating what happened in court, which includes the preparation and contents of the Council’s report. There is insufficient evidence of fault with how the Council has dealt with matters since court proceedings concluded.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman