Summary: We have completed our investigation. There was no fault in how the Council carried out an assessment about Mr X’s child and his family. However, the Council failed to respond to Mr X’s complaint using the statutory children’s complaints procedure. This was fault by the Council. The Council should apologise to Mr X and make a symbolic payment to him.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to consider his views and relevant professional reports when completing its assessment of his disabled child’s needs.
2. He said the Council failed to provide support to Y and there was a data breach.
3. Mr X said this has left Y without access to specialist equipment and leisure activities. He said he has had to use disability benefits to pay for support and care for Y.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) provides a service for the public. It considers complaints about freedom of information and data protection. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). The ICO has powers to order rectification of records that we do not have.
7. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
8. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

9. I have investigated how the Council carried out a children and families assessment about Y, in 2023. This included the process the Council followed to reach its decision, and whether there was fault by the Council that caused Mr X and Y injustice.
10. I have not investigated assessments carried out about Y in 2022. This is because complaints about these matters would be late. Evidence does not currently suggest Mr X could not have made a complaint to us, sooner, had he wished to.
11. I have not investigated the data related part of Mr X’s complaint. Mr X complained about data written and recorded in social care reports about him and his family. These are matters better placed for the Information Commissioner’s Office.

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How I considered this complaint

12. I considered the complaint and information provided by Mr X.
13. I made written inquiries of the Council and considered its response along with relevant law and guidance.
14. I referred to the Ombudsman guidance on Remedies, a copy of which can be found on our website.
15. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered all comments about the draft decision before proceeding to a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

16. The Children Act 1989 sets out a council’s responsibilities to safeguard children. Government guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2010, sets out the legal requirements and expectations on individual services to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.  
17. Under the Children Act 1989, councils are required to provide services for children in need for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting their welfare.
18. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 says councils must safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need. Where a referral is accepted under section 17 the council should lead a multi-agency assessment and compete it within 45 working days.
19. A child is in need if:

• they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development unless the council provides support;
• their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired unless the council provides support; or
• they are disabled.

20. Early help is the term used to refer to support for children and families that aims to improve a family’s resilience and stop a problem getting worse. Early help services are delivered by a wide range of organisations, including by a council (Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2023, Chapter 3)
21. An assessment of a child’s needs should be informed by the child themselves, the child’s family members and professionals involved in the child’s life. (Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2023, Chapter 3)
22. 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. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
23. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. The Ombudsman would normally expect a council and complainant to follow the full complaints procedure. The guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, sets out the circumstances in which a complaint can be referred to the Ombudsman without completing all three stages.

What happened

27. This is a summary of events outlining key facts about the assessment carried out by children’s social care. It does not cover everything that has happened.
28. Y does not have a formal diagnosis but exhibits autistic traits. Y has some health needs. It is reported that Y also has sensory processing and mental health difficulties. Y lives with Y’s parents and siblings.
29. In March 2023 Y’s parents shared concerns with the family doctor about peer relationships and Y’s behaviour when at home. At the time Y was not attending school.
30. An early help assessment was completed by the doctor and referred to children’s social care.
31. Within a few days the Council made attempts to contact Y’s parents to arrange a home visit. Approximately a week after the referral was made a home visit took place. The Council started its assessment of Y and the family.
32. During April and May the Council consulted health professionals involved in the families care, and the children’s education settings.
33. In May the social worker visited Y and Y’s siblings at home to speak directly with them. This was to understand the children’s wishes and feelings, so that this could form part of the assessment.
34. The team manager overseeing the assessment process attended a multi-agency meeting to learn more about the family’s needs and consider the role for children’s social care.
35. At the end of June, the Council completed its assessment. The Council wrote to Y’s parents to inform them that it decided there was no role for children’s social care in Y’s life.
36. The Council said, despite the challenges parents were facing with Y’s behaviour, there would be nothing social care could add to what is already in place. The Council referred to the family’s finances, including benefits the family received. Y had a wide range of support in place and the family was working with the special educational needs department at the Council to try to resolve the issues about school. The Council made a referral for Y to receive mentoring from a local charity and signposted Y’s parents to a charitable organisation that supports siblings of young people with additional needs.
37. Upon concluding the assessment, children’s social care noted the Council would continue to be involved in Y’s life, but it would be through education, and not social care. Children’s social care closed Y’s case.
38. At the end of November Mr X complained to the Council. Within two weeks the Council responded at stage one of the statutory children’s complaint procedure.
39. The stage one response did not uphold Mr X’s complaint. It referred to previous conversations with him about the matters complained of. It explained how the Council had tried to offer a resolution. It invited him to proceed to stage two of the complaints procedure and signposted him to the Ombudsman.
40. Both in December 2023, and in January 2024 Mr X asked the Council to escalate his complaint to stage two of the complaints procedure.
41. In March 2024 the Council replied to Mr X. It told him it was unable to progress his complaint to the next stage of the process because all the complaint points had been addressed at stage one. It apologised to him for the delay and signposted him to the Ombudsman.

My findings

The Councils assessment of Y

42. The children and families assessment of Y should have been completed within 45 working days. The Council concluded its assessment of Y and Y’s family in 53 working days. This is slightly over the timeframe outlined in the Children Act, 1989, but not significant enough to cause injustice to Y or the family. It is clear from case notes that the Council was consistently engaged with Y, and services supporting Y throughout the assessment period. Therefore, I will not make a finding of fault about timeliness.
43. Children’s social care acknowledged Y’s support needs. It recognised the impact of Y’s needs on Y’s parents and siblings. It referred to information from other professionals including health, and education. It referred to the support Y’s parents were privately funding for Y with an independent provider and noted information taken from the provider about Y’s needs.
44. The views sought to inform the assessment were varied. The Council considered the views of Y and Y’s family and incorporated this into the assessment appropriately. Other professionals involved with the family were consulted and a decision was properly arrived at by the Council. I cannot make a finding of fault about the way in which the Council carried out the assessment about Y.

Complaint handling

45. The Council reviewed Mr X’s complaint, at stage one, in a timely manner. It was initially recorded under the statutory children’s complaint procedure.
46. A request to escalate the complaint in December was not responded to by the Council.
47. The second request to escalate the complaint, in January, was not dealt with until nearly 8 weeks later, at the end of March, when it was incorrectly handled via the Council’s corporate complaints policy.
48. The Council have accepted that it handled the complaint incorrectly. The Council failed to acknowledge Mr X’s first request to escalate the complaint, did not respond quickly enough and then responded via the wrong process. The mishandling of the complaint was fault by the Council.
49. Mr X was denied the right to have his complaint considered properly via the statutory children’s complaints procedure because of fault by the Council.
50. In most circumstances we might advise that a Council reinstate the statutory children’s complaints procedure. Due to the time that has passed, and the finding of no fault about the substantive matter of the complaint, I am not making this recommendation.

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Agreed action

51. To remedy the injustice caused to Mr X by the Council’s poor complaint handling I recommend, within four weeks of issuing a final decision, the Council takes the following action:
• Apologise to Mr X in line with our guidance on Making an Effective Apology. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Make a symbolic payment of £200 to Mr X. This is in recognition of the lost opportunity to complete the statutory children’s complaint procedure.
52. Within eight weeks of issuing a final decision the Council should:
• Share a copy of this decision with Council staff dealing with corporate complaints and Council staff dealing with the statutory children’s complaint procedure. Ensure learning from this decision is shared appropriately and acted upon.
• Review the internal system in place for categorising complaints correctly, to ensure that the system is clear, easy to use and guides staff appropriately.
53. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

54. I have completed my investigation. While I cannot find fault with the substantive matter complained about, there was fault in the way the Council handled Mr X’s complaint. The recommendation I have made is an appropriate remedy for the injustice suffered by Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman