Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council produced a flawed assessment report in the course of child protection action and has declined to allow the complainant to address the inaccuracies it contains. This is because investigation would not achieve anything significant or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Ms X, complained that the Council produced a flawed assessment report relating to her daughter and has declined to allow her to address the inaccuracies it contains.

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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 impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X’s daughter was the subject of a child protection enquiry. Ms X says her daughter’s social worker failed to take proper account of her daughter’s neurodivergence and the impact of the lack of appropriate educational provision.
6. Ms X says that, as a result of this failure, the social worker produced a flawed assessment report which contained significant inaccuracies and falsely accused her of neglect. She says the social worker’s professional opinion failed to take account of her views and the Council closed its case without allowing her to address the inaccuracies.
7. Ms X is also critical of the way the Council responded to her complaint. She says she has been denied the opportunity to make her case and she wants to be able to take the matter before an independent panel.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we would not achieve anything significant by doing so. There is no active child protection case, so reconsideration of the social worker’s assessment would have no practical impact.
9. Even if the case was still live, the Ombudsman would not ask for the assessment to be amended retrospectively. It reflects the social worker’s judgement at the time it was written and forms part of the record of the case. The most we would seek to achieve in these circumstances is that a record of Ms X’s dissenting views be placed on the file. The Council offered Ms X this opportunity and our intervention is not warranted.
10. If Ms X believes the assessment contains inaccuracies, her recourse is to pursue her right to rectification under the General Data Protection Regulation. There is no role for the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because investigation would not achieve anything significant or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman