Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about children services’ actions. The Council has now agreed to follow the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, says the Council failed to properly reply to her children services’ complaint.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, Getting the Best from Complaints, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail.
6. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
7. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two. At this stage of the procedure, councils appoint an investigator and an independent person who is responsible for overseeing the investigation. Councils have up to 13 weeks to complete stage two of the process from the date of request.
8. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage two investigation, they can ask for a stage three review by an independent panel. The Council must hold the panel within 30 days of the date of request, and then issue a final response within 20 days of the panel hearing.
9. Miss X complained to the Council about the contact she has with her children who are looked after by the Council because of a Court Care Order. The Council replied in early October 2023 in its Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure. Miss X remained unhappy and requested it be escalated to stage two. The Council replied in November 2023 and said it would not do so as it intended to issue Court proceedings later that month.
10. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because the Council has not since then issued Court proceedings and should have started the stage two.

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Agreed action

11. The Council has agreed to:
• complete a Children Act stage two statutory complaints’ procedure within 65 working days of the date of our final decision.

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Final decision

12. I uphold this complaint as the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman