Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because an investigation by this office could not add to the response the Council has provided explaining the ongoing family court proceedings need to conclude before it can consider his complaint via its complaints procedure.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains his grandchild his been removed from his daughter’s care due to allegations made against him.

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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 may decide not to start an investigation if 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained to the Council about its child protection involvement in relation to his grandchild. Mr X says his grandchild has been removed from his daughter’s care due to allegations made against Mr X.
9. The matter is currently subject to ongoing court proceedings.
10. The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint via its complaints procedure whilst there are ongoing family court proceedings. It said Mr X’s daughter should raise her concerns during the court proceedings via her legal representative. It has told Mr X he can resubmit his complaint once the court proceedings have concluded. However, as he does not have parental responsibility for his grandchild it would only be able to provide him with limited information.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is nothing further we could add to the Council’s response explaining why it will not consider his complaint via the complaints procedure until the current ongoing court proceedings have concluded. There is no sign of fault in this approach. This is to ensure any court proceedings, which must take precedence, are not prejudiced.
12. If Mr X remains dissatisfied with the Council’s final response to his complaint once the court proceedings have concluded then we can assess it to see if it is a matter we can and should investigate. However, the law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman