Summary: We uphold Miss X’s complaint the Council has failed to reply to her complaint within its Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure. The Council has now agreed to do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X’s, says the Council has failed to comply with its Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure.

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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 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)
3. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share the final decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

The 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. The accompanying statutory guidance, Getting the Best from Complaints, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail.
7. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
8. 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.
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. 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.

What happened

10. Miss X complained to the Council in March 2022 about housing and related issues whilst she was a LAC and care leaver. The Council replied at stage one of the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure in April 2022. Miss X asked for the complaint to be escalated to stage two a week later. This has still not been completed.
11. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because the Council has not completed stage two within the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure regulations.

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Agreed action

12. The Council has agreed to:
• Complete stage two within two months of the date of this decision and ensure Miss X is informed of her rights under the procedure.
• Pay Miss X £300 for the delays in the complaints process so far.

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Final decision

13. 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