Coventry ordered to pay court costs after accusing parents of lying about children's health

Judge Clifford Bellamy said the council had "fallen below accepted standards" in its decision-making process. He also said the council had not taken steps to evaluate information in relation to the children's involvement with health services and that it had relied completely on a medical report, when it should have raised shortcomings in the report with its author.

He ordered the council to pay £100,000 towards the parents’ court costs after it withdrew its care application.

The judgement was made in February, but the judge has only just allowed the council to be named. The council had argued against being named because it was "concerned that this family could now be identified in the community and this could cause them harm".

Colin Green, director of children, learning and young people at the city council, said: "This has been a complex and difficult case and at all times the council's priority has been the welfare of the children at the heart of this case.

"We accept that we made mistakes in the management of this case that we very much regret, particularly around our analysis of the 241-page forensic assessment provided by the medical expert instructed by all parties to carry out the assessment of the family in relation to fabricated or induced illness. This assessment, the judge concluded, did not include sufficient evidence of fabricated or induced illness as had been concluded by the medical expert. We also did not review the case effectively at other key points such as when the independent social work report was received. We did not step back to see the whole picture in a complex case with an enormous volume of material.

"We have now changed the way we work in this kind of case to make sure that we will not make the same mistakes again, and we continue to offer help to the children."