London Borough of Ealing (25 018 162)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the accuracy of a children services child and family assessment. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider this disagreement.
The complaint
- Mrs X says the Council holds an inaccurate assessment about her family.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended).
- 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 another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council’s replies to her.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council’s children services team completed a child and family assessment on Mrs X’s family in 2024. Mrs X says its inaccurate. She complained to the Council in July 2024. It replied in November 2024. It agreed to amend the assessment. Mrs X complained again in April 2025 saying she had not received the amended assessment. In reply the Council said she was too late to request a review of the Council’s complaint response.
- Mrs X has the right to request records are ‘rectified’. This means any factual inaccuracies are corrected. If the Council refuses to do so, she can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Parliament set up the ICO to consider data protection disputes which includes ‘right to rectification’ disputes. The ICO are better placed than us to consider if the Council should change its records particularly because there are complex exemptions for child protection case files.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the ICO is better placed.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman