Summary: We have discontinued our investigation into Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s post adoption support for her daughters. This is because, since we received the complaint, the Council has provided Mrs X with a right to review at stage three if she is still dissatisfied. Therefore, we will not investigate further.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council wrongly stopped paying adoption allowance for her daughter without any communication. Mrs X also complains the Council failed to complete reviews with her two daughters over a ten-year period. Mrs X says the Council poorly responded to her complaints and failed to do what it promised at the end of the complaints process.
2. Mrs X says this has caused stress and financial difficulty so severe that they are at risk of losing their home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the information Mrs X provided. I also considered the information given by the Council in response to enquiries.
5. Mrs X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered these comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant legislation and guidance

Statutory complaints procedure

6. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services.
7. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. 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 investigating officer (IO) to look into the complaint and an independent person (IP) who is responsible for overseeing the investigation and ensuring its independence.
8. Following the investigation, a senior manager (the adjudicating officer) at the council should carry out an adjudication. The officer considers the IO report and any report from the IP. They decide what the council’s response to the complaint will be, including what action it will take. The adjudicating officer should then write to the complainant with a copy of the investigation report, any report from the independent person and the adjudication response.
9. 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.

What happened?

10. Following Mrs X’s complaint in 2023, the Council followed the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
11. After stage three of the procedure was completed, the Council wrote to Mrs X to say the panel found that the stage two investigation had not been completed robustly. It therefore said it would appoint a new investigation team to re-investigate at stage two.
12. The Council wrote to Mrs X in September 2024 with the outcome of the new stage two investigation. In this letter, the Council said if Mrs X remained dissatisfied with the outcome of this investigation, then she could progress the complaint to stage three of the complaint’s procedure.

Analysis

13. 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, we expect councils to complete the complaints procedure. Therefore, I have not investigated Mrs X’s substantive complaints about the Council’s actions.
14. We also cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to give the council that opportunity.
15. We accepted Mrs X’s complaint for investigation because, at the time, Mrs X was still waiting for the Council to provide a response at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
16. However, since then, the Council has responded to Mrs X’s complaint at stage two and has offered her a right to review at stage three if she is dissatisfied.
17. This means it would be reasonable for Mrs X to ask the Council for that review if she feels it is necessary. If she remains dissatisfied after doing so, she can approach us again and ask us to look at her complaint.

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Final decision

18. I have discontinued my investigation.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman