Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about information the Council has recorded about her and her children. The Council has already investigated and responded to Miss X’s concerns under all three stages of the statutory complaint procedure. It has apologised and offered remedial action for the injustice caused by the faults identified. We could not add to the Council’s responses.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about information recorded in an assessment completed by a Council Social Worker following her request for help. Miss X believes some of the information is irrelevant, historic or potentially damaging to her relationship with her children. She wants the Council to remove the assessment report entirely from her children’s record or correct the information.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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 information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The statutory children’s complaints procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns. Because of this, if a council has investigated something under the statutory children’s complaint process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it.
7. However, we may look at whether there were any flaws in the stage two investigation or stage three review panel that could call the findings into question.
8. The Council concluded its consideration of Miss X’s complaints under stage three of the statutory complaint process in September 2025. This included the complaint summarised in paragraph 1 above and other issues. Miss X felt unable to participate in the stage three review panel hearing.
9. The Council accepted the findings of the stage two investigation and stage three review panel. It agreed to include clear notes to the assessment to highlight Miss X’s comments and objections to the information recorded by the Social Worker. The Council also agreed with the review panel’s recommendation to meet with Miss X to discuss the changes she wished to make about how events in her life were described within the assessment report. The Council also apologised to Miss X for not sharing both assessment reports for her children with her initially and for not providing her with a draft assessment for comments before finalisation. The Council confirmed to the stage three review panel the action it would take to learn from Miss X’s experience.
10. Further investigation of Miss X’s complaints by the Ombudsman is unlikely to add to the Council’s responses. The Council’s responses to Miss X’s complaints under all three stages of the statutory process were detailed and thorough. The remedial action the Council has offered to Miss X is in line with the recommendations we would typically make in such cases.
11. Miss X maintains her strong view that the Council should remove the assessment report from its records. The Council has a statutory duty to complete such assessments when it receives a referral for support. It is also obliged to retain a record of its findings within its case records and assessment reports for audit and safeguarding purposes.
12. We will not investigate this element of Miss X’s complaint because we could not achieve the outcome she is seeking. We will not ask a council to delete an assessment from its records. The most we would normally seek to achieve is that a record of a complainant’s dissenting views is added to the file. The Council has already confirmed that it will add details of Miss X’s comments to the assessment report itself and its case records. We would not seek to achieve anything further.
13. If Miss X believes the assessment report contains inaccurate information about her or still wishes to have the assessment report deleted, she may pursue her right to rectification and deletion. It is open to her to bring those concerns to the attention of the Information Commissioner’s Office, which is better placed than us to consider them.

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Final decision

We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because further investigation could not add to the Council’s responses.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman