The award was made following a complaint from the childminder that Barnet council in north London had acted unreasonably in dealing with her extended childminding group.
The childminder, Mrs Harris (her real name cannot be given for legal reasons), said the council had taken 'an unreasonable amount of time' in dealing with applications for variation of her registration, that it had delayed sending her a copy of her inspection report for the year 2000, made 'unreasonable and unnecessary recommendations' following inspections, and failed to deal properly with her complaints.
In her ruling, the local gov-ernment ombudsman, Patricia Thomas, said Mrs Harris's complaints were justified. Mrs Thomas noted that while 'the exercise of the council's then-statutory powers to ensure the protection and welfare of young children when in the care of childminders was a duty deserving of the highest priorityIin this case there is a significant gap between the council's aspirations of good inspection practice and the reality achieved'.
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