Summary: We uphold Mrs X’s complaint, about a viability assessment. The Council has agreed to let third parties know and make a payment.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I will call Mrs X, complained to the Council in July 2021 about a children services viability assessment.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share the final decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
6. I considered Mrs X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

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My assessment

What happened

7. Mrs X complained to the Council in July 2021 about a viability assessment. The Council’s final reply of March 2022 accepts it should never have produced the viability assessment. We would consider this to be fault. Mrs X says the viability assessment caused her time and trouble and has been particularly distressing.
8. The Council has confirmed it has removed the assessment from its records.

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Agreed action

9. The Council has agreed within one month of my final decision to:
• Contact all the parties with whom it shared the viability assessment to tell them the assessment is flawed and has been removed from the Council’s files.
• Pay Mrs X £200.

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Final decision

10. I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman