Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (21 004 154)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Aug 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about an assessment prepared by the Council’s children services team. The assessment has been used in court proceedings which means it forms part of legal proceedings, which we cannot investigate.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, says the Council prepared a flawed assessment on this family.
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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Following a referral in March 2020, the Council’s children services team decided to carry out an assessment on Mr X’s child’s circumstances. That assessment ended in May with no further action to be taken. Mr X says his child’s mother stopped him from seeing their child and they started Court proceedings to decide his contact with the child.
- Mr X says the Court proceedings are continuing. He says the assessment has been used by the Court throughout in reference.
- Mr X complained to the Council in July 2020. He pursued his complaint within the Council’s children statutory complaints procedure. This ended in February 2021. It concluded the assessment had made significant flaws.
- We cannot investigate any reports or assessments which have been used in court proceedings. This includes:
- The preparation, collation, and analysis of evidence, including reports written by social workers or other officers for court proceedings.
- The use of a report written previously, in later court proceedings.
- Evidence given by council officers in any proceedings.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the assessment he complains of forms part of Court proceedings.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman