Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has not completed some of the agreed remedy actions after it upheld her complaints following an investigation under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council is at fault. It has not completed some of the actions agreed. There was also poor record keeping which has caused uncertainty about how the decision to refuse Mrs X support as a parent carer was reached. The Council will apologise to Mrs X for the frustration and uncertainty caused and improve its services.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has not completed some of the agreed remedy actions after it upheld her complaints following an investigation under the Children’s statutory complaints procedure. She says as a result, she is still unclear why the Council did not agree to provide her with the recommended support as a parent carer and services have not improved, causing further frustration.
2. She wants the Council to explain the decision to refuse her support and complete the actions agreed during the investigation process, to ensure improvement in Council services.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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)
5. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I read Mrs X’s complaint and spoke with her about it on the phone.
7. I made enquiries of the Council and considered information it sent me.
8. Mrs X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

The Children’s statutory complaints procedure

9. 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.
10. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. If a council has investigated something under the statutory children’s complaint process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it unless we consider the investigation was flawed. However, we may look at whether a council properly considered the findings and recommendations of the independent investigation.

Parent carer assessments

14. Section 97 of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires councils to assess parent carers on the appearance of need or where an assessment is requested by the parent. The council must assess whether the parent has needs for support and what those needs are.

Good administrative practice

15. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has produced guidance for councils on the principles of good administrative practice. This document outlines six core principles of good administration which include the need to be open and accountable. Councils can help achieve this by keeping proper and appropriate records giving clear reasons for decisions made.

What happened

16. Mrs X’s child, Y, has additional needs. In May 2020, Mrs X approached the Council for support.
17. The Council completed a child and family assessment during June and July 2020. The assessment concluded they were eligible for services. It recommended the Council provide support for Y to increase their involvement with their local community and activities outside of the home. It also recommended support for Mrs X, in her role as a parent carer. The Council told Mrs X the recommendations would be presented to its resource panel in early September for approval.
18. At the end of September 2020, Mrs X complained to the Council. She said it had not presented their case to the resource panel as agreed, which meant her and Y remained without support.
19. In October 2020, the Council’s resource panel considered the recommendations. It agreed to provide support for Y, but did not agree to the recommended support for Mrs X. The record does not explain why the request was refused.
20. In November 2020, Mrs X asked the Council to escalate her complaint as it had not responded.
21. In January 2021, the Council accepted her complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. In summary, her complaint related to:
• delay during the assessment and decision making around the proposed support for herself and Y
• failure to carry out a parent carer assessment
• failure to follow the correct procedure when arranging and holding a Child in Need meeting
• poor communication, and
• poor complaints handling.

Mrs X was unhappy with the responses provided at stage 1 and 2 and escalated the complaint to stage 3.

22. The stage 3 panel upheld all of Mrs X’s complaints. In its stage 3 response letter, the Council apologised to Mrs X and offered her £700 as a remedy for the poor service, the impact on Y and distress caused. Mrs X accepted this payment. The Council said learning from complaints happened during monthly “practice challenge” meetings. It said it would ensure Mrs X’s complaint was discussed at the March 2022 meeting and that learning was shared with teams.
23. The Council agreed to service improvements recommended at stage 2 and stage 3. This included:
• Updating information about parent carer assessments on its website. It said it would complete this by March 2022.
• Clarifying the Council’s process for parent carer assessments.
• Providing information about parent carer assessments in written leaflet format as well as online.
• Ensuring learning from the complaint by providing a copy of the stage 2 report and adjudication letter to all staff involved in the investigation for them to reflect on practice.
• Reminding staff members of:
1. the importance of concise, accurate and timely record keeping and of continued regular communication with service users.
2. The process for dealing with complaints, particularly managers who have the responsibility to respond to them.
24. Mrs X remained dissatisfied and brought her complaint to us. In July 2022, she told us the Council had not completed the actions it agreed to. She said:
• information on the Council’s website about parent carer assessments had not been updated and remained unclear.
• it had not produced a written leaflet about parent carer assessments.
• it had never explained to her why it refused the recommendation for her to receive support as a parent carer.
• She did not believe it had shared learning from the complaint as services had not improved.
25. In response to my enquires, the Council said it had clarified its parent carer assessment process following the stage 2 investigation and provided me with evidence of this.
26. It said it had shared the learning from the complaint. However, evidence provided shows the practice challenge meeting in March 2022 had to be cut short, and so learning from the complaint was only briefly discussed. An email from the complaints team shows the Council acknowledged that learning from the complaint needed further consideration and requested confirmation from relevant managers both in late March and August 2022 that the learning had been shared with their teams. The Council has not provided any subsequent responses from team managers confirming the learning was shared.
27. It accepted that despite agreeing it would improve information about parent carer assessments on its website by March 2022, this work had not yet been completed. It apologised to Mrs X for this. It said there was some information about parent carer assessments on its “local offer” website.
28. It accepted it had not produced a written leaflet. It said it had initially decided a leaflet was not needed but now accepted it should consider producing a printable or downloadable leaflet. It said it was working to decide how to progress this and to ensure parents and carers were consulted in the process by the end of October 2022.
29. It also said it was in the process of reviewing the Child and Family assessment paperwork and would consider further developing the parent carer section as part of this. This review would be completed by January 2023.

Analysis

30. The resource panel meeting record does not give a clear reason why the support recommended for Mrs X was refused. This is poor record keeping and is fault. The lack of clarity about the reason for this decision has caused Mrs X frustration and uncertainty about how this decision was reached.
31. The Council has provided evidence to us that it has reviewed its parent carer assessment process. I am satisfied this has now been completed.
32. In its response to us, the Council accepted it has not updated information on its main website or produced a written leaflet about parent carer assessments, as agreed after Mrs X’s complaint. Mrs X clearly stated during the complaint investigation that part of her desired outcomes was improved services for parents and carers. The Council told her it agreed with the recommendations made at stage 2 and 3 but has not completed them. This is fault. This has caused Mrs X frustration and to question the Council’s commitment to improving its services.
33. The Council says work to improve its website and produce a leaflet is now in progress. The Council should now work to complete these actions.
34. The evidence provided does not show the learning was shared with teams, as the Council agreed. This is fault and leads to uncertainty about whether this action to improve its services has been completed.

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Agreed action

35. Within one month of the final decision, the Council will:
• Write to Mrs X to apologise for its failure to complete remedy actions it agreed following her complaint, and the frustration and uncertainty this has caused.
• Share the learning from the complaint with relevant staff as recommended following the stage 2 investigation and the stage 3 review panel.
• Remind relevant staff about the importance of keeping proper and appropriate records which provide clear reasons for the decisions made by the Council’s Children services resource panel.
36. Within three months of the final decision the Council will:
• Produce a printable or downloadable information leaflet about parent carer assessments and make this publicly available.
• Complete the improvements to information on its website about parent carer assessments.
37. It should provide evidence to us that it has completed these actions.

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Final decision

38. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault and the Council has agreed action to remedy the injustice caused and improve its services.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman