Watchdog unable to intervene in Wigan dad's child custody complaint

A Wigan father claims the council “bullied him” and produced negative reports for a court which resulted in him being refused custody of his child.

The resident, referred to as Mr X in a report from the Local Government Ombudsman, made several allegations about how the borough’s town hall handled court proceedings relating to his son.

A court agreed with the local authority’s view that the child’s best interests would be served by living with his maternal grandparents and not having contact with his father.

But Mr X claimed that this decision only came after Wigan Council provided the courts with a report which portrayed him negatively.

He also alleged that the town hall did not respond to his emails, failed to notify him of a court hearing date, and that was bullied in an unspecified manner.

But the watchdog said it was powerless to investigate the complaint because it was a matter for the courts.

The report said: “Mr X makes several complaints about how the council handled court proceedings related to where his son should live and who he should have contact with.

“The complaints include the council gave the court a negative report about him, did not tell him a court hearing would go ahead virtually after the Covid-19 lockdown began, did not respond to emails, bullied him, put the phone down on him, was rude and unprofessional and threatened to call the police about him.

“His complaint also includes that the court granted special guardianship to his child’s grandparents and a supervision order to the council.”

It went on: “Court proceedings finished in April 2020 relating to Mr X’s son.

“The court agreed with the council’s view that the child’s best interests would be served by living with his maternal grandparents and not having contact with his father.

“As part of those proceedings, the council had completed an assessment of Mr X’s ability to care for, and have contact with, his son.

“Mr X was not happy with the content of the report the council provided to the court.

“He also says he was not told a hearing would be going ahead virtually and so he was unable to contribute to the hearing.

“We cannot consider the substantive parts of Mr X’s complaint as they relate to what happened as part of the court proceedings.

“Decisions made by the court are not within our jurisdiction.

“The outcomes Mr X seeks from complaining are not ones we could achieve.

“He asks us to return the case to court and he seeks contact with his son.

“These are not within the Ombudsman’s powers.

“Mr X says we need to investigate this complaint because his son is at risk.

“I am satisfied his son’s welfare has been considered by the court.

“Mr X indicates information about his concerns is present in a report that the court saw.

“It was the court’s decision to accommodate his son with his grandparents.

“It is open to Mr X to seek legal advice to take the matter back to the courts, and it is reasonable for him to do so because that is the only route via which he could achieve the outcomes he seeks.”

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