Summary: Ms X complained about how the Council dealt with her complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The Council was at fault when it delayed in completing stage 2 of the statutory procedure and refused to progress to stage 3 when Ms X requested this. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X, pay her £350 and make service improvements.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council:
• took too long to carry out a stage 2 investigation under the statutory children’s complaints procedure; and
• refused to escalate her complaint to stage 3 of the statutory procedure.
2. Ms X states this has caused her frustration because the issues she complained about have not been resolved.

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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. We may investigate matters coming to our attention during an investigation, if we consider that a member of the public who has not complained may have suffered an injustice as a result. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26D and 34E, as amended)
5. 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)
6. 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

7. I spoke to Ms X and considered her view of her complaint.
8. I considered the stage 2 investigation report and the reasons the Council provided to Ms X and the Ombudsman about why it should not consider her complaint at stage 3 of the statutory procedures.
9. I wrote to Ms X and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

The children’s statutory complaints procedure

10. There is a formal procedure, set out in law, which councils must follow to investigate certain complaints about children’s services. The procedure aims to ensure concerns are resolved swiftly and, wherever possible, by the people who provide the service locally.
11. Statutory guidance (the Guidance) provides details of what may form the subject of a complaint under this procedure. This includes all council functions within Part 3 of the Children’s Act 1989, which sets out the services councils must provide for children and their families in their area. The Guidance says a complaint may arise because of many things, including an unwelcome or disputed decision, concerns about the appropriateness or quality of a service or the impact on a child or young person of the application of a council policy.
12. Specific people can complain on behalf of a child under the statutory procedure, including the child’s parents.
13. The children’s statutory complaints procedure involves three stages:
14. Stage 1 - Local resolution by the council. This should take a maximum of 20 working days to complete;
15. Stage 2 – an investigation by an independent investigating officer not involved in the service. This should take 25 days, rising to a maximum of 65 days for complex cases. If the complainant wishes to proceed to stage 3, they should request this within 20 working days; and
16. Stage 3 – an independent panel to consider any outstanding issues. This should take a total of 35 days to complete with a further 15 days for the council to respond to the findings.
17. Where a complaint is accepted at stage 1, the council is obliged to ensure the complaint proceeds to stages 2 and 3 if the complainant requests this.
18. There are certain circumstances when a council can make an early referral to the Ombudsman once stage 2 has been completed. The stage 2 must have delivered:
• a robust report, a complete adjudication by the council and an outcome whereby all the substantive complaints have been upheld; and
• the council has produced a clear action plan and has agreed to meet the majority or all of the complainant’s desired outcomes.
19. The Ombudsman will then determine whether to either investigate the complaint or refer the matter back to the council to carry out a stage 3 review.

What happened

Ms X’s previous complaint to the Ombudsman

20. Ms X complained to the Council in April 2021 about its actions in relation to the support offered to herself and her children.
21. The Council investigated Ms X’s complaints under stage 1 of the statutory procedure and issued a response in May.
22. Ms X remained unhappy and asked the Council to escalate her complaints to stage 2. The Council refused to progress her complaint because it said Ms X’s outcomes could be met without the need for further investigation.
23. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman. We upheld her complaint and as a result, in November 2021, the Council agreed to complete stage 2 without delay.

Ms X’s current complaint

24. The Council issued its stage 2 report on 20 April 2022. Of Ms X’s nine complaints, the Council did not uphold seven of them, upheld one of them and partially upheld another.
25. On 25 April, Ms X asked the Council to escalate her complaint to stage 3, citing inaccuracies in the report. After Ms X chased for a response at the end of May, the Council asked her to explain what she found to be inaccurate in the stage 2 report. Ms X provided a detailed response on 30 May. On 15 June, the Council responded and refused to proceed to stage 3.
26. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman. We considered the Council’s refusal to progress to stage 3 was likely to be fault and invited the Council to remedy this by starting a stage 3. It informed us it was “not sure that a stage 3 is required… [Ms X] has provided 5 desired outcomes all of which were responded to by the investigating officer and the report provided was robust in nature and considered all points of her complaint. [Ms X] has been unable to provide information relating to how the investigation was flawed in its process and considering the report and without further evidence provided by [Ms X] cannot see that any further investigations are going to provide a demonstrably different outcome to those that have already been established”.
27. In a telephone call to the Ombudsman, a Council officer informed us that they did not think a stage 3 was worthwhile, a stage 3 would take too long to arrange and they felt we should investigate to avoid further delay to the Ombudsman.

My findings

28. The statutory guidance is clear that when a complaint is considered under the children’s statutory complaints procedure, the council is obliged to ensure the complaint proceeds to stages 2 and 3 if the complainant requests this.
29. The Council has twice failed to follow the statutory guidance; first when Ms X requested a stage 2 and then when she requested a stage 3.
30. Furthermore, it failed to meet the statutory timescales in completing the stage 2 investigation. There is nothing to indicate this was a complex investigation or that a longer timescale to complete it was agreed with Ms X. Therefore, the Council should have completed the investigation within five weeks. The Council took around 21 weeks. This significant delay is fault.
31. As a result of the Council’s refusal at both stage 2 and stage 3 to progress Ms X’s complaint, and the delays in carrying out the stage 2 investigation, Ms X is still waiting, 12 months later, to complete the complaints process.
32. As a result, she has been caused frustration and time and trouble in coming to the Ombudsman.
33. When we asked the Council to consider Mrs X’s complaint at stage 3, it refused and suggested the Ombudsman should accept an early referral and investigate.
34. Again, the statutory guidance is clear when the Ombudsman will accept a referral after completion of stage 2. None of the requirements were met in Ms X’s case. This demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the statutory procedures and is fault.
35. Due to the repeated failure to follow the statutory complaints procedure in this case and the lack of knowledge demonstrated by the Council, I am concerned these faults may not be limited to this case and there may be other complainants who have suffered a similar injustice. The Council should take steps to review how it has handled other recent complaints under the procedure and act to improve its service.

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Agreed actions

36. Within one month of the date of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
• apologise and pay Ms X £350 to remedy the injustice caused by the Council’s delays in completing the stage 2 investigation and refusal to carry out the stage 3 review; and
• begin stage 3 of the statutory children’s complaints procedures;
37. Within three months of the date of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
• carry out training with the relevant staff on its duties under the statutory children’s complaints procedure; and
• carry out an audit of statutory children’s complaints between April 2021 and July 2022 to determine if there have been other cases where it has refused to progress to either stage 2 or stage 3 after a request by the complainant. The Council will report its findings to the relevant overview and scrutiny committee together with the findings of this investigation and an action plan specifying how it will deal with any identified cases.

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Final decision

38. There was fault leading to injustice. The Council has agreed to my findings, so I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman