Essex County Council (21 016 656)

Category : Children's care services > Disabled children

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 06 Apr 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the contents of a child and family assessment. This is because the events happened too long ago, and I see no reason why the complaint could not have been raised sooner.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I will call Mrs X, complains about the contents of a child and family assessment completed by the Council’s children’s services in July 2020. She says the social worker recorded the opposite of what she said and therefore the assessment is inaccurate and should be retracted.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
  2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
  3. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

  1. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that a social worker recorded inaccurate information about her in a child and family assessment. This is because the assessment was concluded in July 2020. I see no reason why Mrs X could not have complained to the Council and then the Ombudsman sooner and therefore her complaint is therefore made late.
  2. If Mrs B believes statements about her are inaccurate, she may pursue her right to rectification under data protection law. She can then raise her complaint with the Information Commissioner. There are no grounds for the Ombudsman to intervene.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the events happened too long ago and I see no reason why she could not have complained sooner.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings