Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed considering a complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has now agreed to resolve the complaint by progressing the complaint to stage two of the procedure and completing its investigation without further delay. It will also apologise and offer to make a payment to the complainant to remedy the time and trouble they have been too.

The complaint

1. Mr X and Miss Z complained to the Council, via a representative, about matters relating to the care of a child. They complained to the Ombudsman after the Council delayed considering her complaint under the children’s 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 this 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 the complainant 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.
10. The statutory guidance says that If a complaint has entered stage one the local authority is obliged to ensure the complaint proceeds to stages two and three if the complaint requests this.

Assessment

11. Mr X and Miss Z complained to the Council in 2020 but as the Council said it would not investigate the matter until connected court proceedings had concluded. Mr X and Miss Z complained again in June 2022 after proceedings had concluded and in October 2022, the Council responded at stage one of the statutory complaint’s procedure. Mr X and Miss Z asked for the complaint to be escalated to stage two. However, despite several letters and emails to the Council asking for updates, they have yet to receive a stage two response.
12. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely we would find the Council at fault. This is because there has been a delay in the Council completing the complaint and issuing Mr X and Miss Z with a response. This has meant they have been to some significant time and trouble pursuing their complaint and has resulted in a delay in them receiving answers to the questions raised in their complaint.
13. We therefore asked the Council to allocate the complaint to an investigator and an independent person and complete its investigation within 65 days. We also asked the Council to write to Mr X and Miss Z to apologise for the delay and offer to make a payment to them of a total of £400 to remedy the time and trouble they have been too pursuing her complaint.
14. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and has agreed with our recommendation. It will therefore write to Mr X and Miss Z within one month to apologise for the delays and to offer a £400 payment. It will consider thier complaint at stage two without further delay.

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Final decision

15. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing an appropriate remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman