London Borough of Croydon (22 001 841)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 May 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s child protection actions. The matters complained of are not separable from matters that have been subject to court action, or that could have been raised during a court process.
The complaint
- Mrs X said the Council disclosed and misused sensitive information. She said it withheld information that proved child protection action was unlawful and caused an application for judicial review to be unsuccessful. She said the Council refused to progress her complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
- The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
- The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Proceedings in a court of law include everything from the application to a court onwards. The correspondence provided by Mrs X shows there was an application to a court for leave to seek judicial review of the Council’s actions.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the matters complained of either formed part of a court process or could reasonably have been raised during the court process. This limit applies even where the application to the court was unsuccessful. We cannot investigate the Council’s handling of Mrs X’s complaint about these matters because they are outside our jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman