Summary: Mrs X complains about the Council’s record keeping in relation to a child, Y, who was previously looked after. The Council was at fault for failing to keep and maintain accurate records and photographs of Y. This caused Mrs X and Y avoidable distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mrs X on behalf of Y and act to try to locate photographs of Y.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s record keeping in relation to a child, Y, who was previously looked after. Mrs X said the Council failed to retain photographs of Y’s contact sessions with his biological family.
2. Mrs X said the matter caused her frustration and has caused Y significant distress and impacts on his identity.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
5. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and guidance

Looked after child

8. A child who has been in the care of their local authority for more than 24 hours is known as a looked after child.

Contact

9. The law says councils must allow the child or children who are the subject of the care order reasonable contact with their parents.

The Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations Volume 2: care planning, placement and case review

10. ‘The guidance’ says a council is required to establish and maintain the child’s written case record.
11. The child’s case record must be kept until the 75th anniversary of his/her date of birth.

What happened?

12. Y became a looked after child in February 2015.
13. In mid-May 2025, Mrs X complained to the Council that she had been speaking to the Council for around six months to try and get copies of photographs taken during Y’s supervised contact sessions with his family in around 2015. She said the Council had confirmed that it had lost these photographs. Mrs X asked the Council to investigate how this had happened.
14. The Council replied early June, it said it could not investigate the matter because the events took place around 10 years ago. It noted that records from this time were not stored electronically, and it no longer held the photos or supporting documents. The Council said it was standard practice for discs to be given directly to carers, parents and social workers, but it was unable to verify whether this happened.

Council’s response to my enquiries

15. The Council told me that Y’s life story work, particularly how and why he became a looked after child was available within the family knowledge of those caring for him and that they could share his story with him.
16. It noted that Y does not have any paper files, and all of his records are held on a single electronic file. The Council told me it is looked at this electronic file again and no photographs are stored within it.
17. The Council also said a support worker tried to identify photographs that may have been taken in Y’s supervised contact with his parents but there was no evidence to say whether photographs were taken or not.
18. The Council noted that since 2018, any photographs that are taken within a supervised contact session are done so on a mobile phone and directly downloaded and attached to the child’s electronic file.
19. However, before 2018, photographs were taken with a digital camera and downloaded onto a compact disc. The process was that three copies were made, one for parent, one for the carer and one for the social worker. But, it explained that the taking of photographs was generally limited to those children with a potential plan of adoption.

Findings

20. Mrs X complained that the Council failed to retain photographs of Y’s contact sessions with his biological family. The Council has explained that it does not know if any photographs were taken during these sessions, so we cannot, on balance, say if there were any photographs in existence.
21. There is no duty on a Council to take photographs during a contact session. But there is a duty on a council to keep and maintain accurate records.
22. The Council should have kept proper records of any photographs that were taken, including where they were stored and who they were given to. Because it did not keep accurate records, it cannot confirm this. This was fault, which caused Mrs X and Y avoidable distress and uncertainty because they do not know whether any photographs were taken during his contact sessions or what happened to them. Mrs X also says this has impacted on his identity because life story work, including photographs, can play a key role in helping care experienced children and young people understand their family backgrounds.
23. The Council should apologise for this. I will also recommend the Council makes a symbolic financial payment for the distress and uncertainty this caused.
24. I welcome that the Council has a new procedure in place which will prevent this happening again for looked after children more recently, and so I will not make any service improvement recommendations.

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Action

25. Within four weeks of our final decision, the Council will:
• apologise to Mrs X and Y for the distress and uncertainty caused to them by its faults. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making its apology;
• make a payment of £250 to Mrs X on behalf of Y to remedy the distress and uncertainty caused by the Council’s failure to keep and maintain proper records; and
• arrange with Mrs X to contact Y’s parents on her behalf to request any photographs of them and Y.
26. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman