Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the accuracy of a Council assessment. It is unlikely our investigation could achieve more than the Council has already offered.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council produced an unfair assessment of her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mrs X provided with her complaint which included the Council’s reply. Mrs X had an opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

5. Mrs X says that in March 2019 the Council’s children services team produced an inaccurate and unfair report about her. She met with the Council to discuss this. It agreed to:
• change what it views as factual inaccuracies;
• place Mrs X’s comments on the opinion she disagreed with on the Council’s records;
• produced a second assessment.
6. Mrs X says this is not enough. She would like the social worker’s views on her parenting abilities set out in the first assessment report to be removed.

Analysis

7. It is unlikely our investigation would achieve more than the Council has already offered. Placing her comments on the record next to the version she disputes, is the usual remedy we recommend.
8. There is a ‘right to rectification’ process which Mrs X can follow for factual errors within the assessment report. If Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s approach she can ask the Information Commissioners Office to consider her case. They are better placed to consider if there are any remaining factual errors which need amending.
9. It is open to Mrs X to ask Social Work England to consider any complaint she has about the social worker’s professionalism.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we could achieve a significantly improved remedy further than the Council offered.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman