Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s children’s social care records containing inaccurate information because there is not enough evidence of fault and the Information Commissioner is better placed to decide data processing disputes.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains on behalf of his son, Mr Y, that the Council has recorded incorrect and malicious information in a child and family assessment. He seeks that the information is labelled as false and withdrawn.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X says the assessment contains inaccurate information however the Council has explained it records the views of the parents and the children without commenting on whether those views are accurate.
8. It is up to the Council what information to include in a child and family assessment. In response to the complaint it gave reasons for including certain information, such as the views of all parties and reference to a previous assessment for context. There is not enough evidence of fault in its decision making to justify an investigation.
9. Further, the Information Commissioner is better placed to consider Mr X’s concerns that the data held by the Council is false and should be rectified or removed.
10. It is not proportionate to investigate the Council’s complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive issue as any remaining injustice is not significant enough.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault and because another body is better placed.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman