Summary: Miss X complained that the Council failed to progress her children services’ complaint to stage two of the statutory Children Act 1989 complaints’ procedure. We have found fault causing injustice. The Council has now agreed to start the stage two investigation. Therefore, we have completed our investigation and are closing the complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complained that the Council had failed to escalate her complaints about children services to stage two of the statutory complaints’ procedure. As a result, she has been caused avoidable frustration and time and trouble.

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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. 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)
4. 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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What I have and have not investigated

5. I have only looked at the Council’s delay in dealing with Miss X’s complaints. I have not investigated the substantive matter concerning the actions of children services.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I made enquiries of the Council and spoke to Miss X on the telephone.
7. I issued a draft decision statement to the Council and to Miss X. I have taken into account any further comments before reaching a final decision.

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What I found

The statutory complaints procedure

8. 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.
9. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. The statutory guidance says that, if a complaint has entered stage one, the council is obliged to ensure the complaint proceeds to stages two and three if the complainant requests this.

Key facts

13. Miss X complained that the Council’s children services failed to provide appropriate support to her family. In late March 2024, the Council completed a stage one complaint response and upheld some of the complaints. Dissatisfied, Miss X requested a stage two investigation and the Council agreed to this at the end of April 2024.
14. Since then, Miss X chased up the Council and was told that there was a high volume of outstanding stage two complaints awaiting investigation by an investigating officer and independent person.
15. The Council has told us that, until very recently, it had a pool of eight independent persons who were approved to undertake stage two complaint investigations. Around eighteen months ago, the Council had relatively few requests for stage two investigations and so this was sufficient. Since then, the number of stage two cases has been growing and over the last year has become much less manageable.
16. The Council has been working to recruit new independent persons which has required new contract terms to be approval by the Directorate Leadership Team and then time provided to the Legal team to draft the new contract terms. The Council is using independent persons for both the investigation officer role and the independent person role, as is the case in other authorities.  
17. The Council told me that there are now six stage two complaints awaiting allocation. It recognises that Miss X has been waiting for the start of a stage two investigation and apologises for this. The Council is now in a position to start her stage two investigation.
18. Miss X told me that an investigating officer and independent person has now contacted her to start their investigation.

Findings

19. There is fault causing Miss X an injustice in that the Council has failed to conclude a stage two investigation within the timescale set out in statutory guidance, causing her uncertainty and delaying resolution of her complaint.
20. But it is important that Miss X’s complaints are considered at stage two because this will provide a proportionate response to her concerns with an independent element. There will also be some matters in Miss X’s complaint which we may not be able to investigate involving court matters.

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Agreed action

21. Within two weeks of the final statement, the Council will:
1. apologise to Miss X for its delay, which has caused her avoidable distress and frustration;
2. ensure the stage two investigation has started and will be completed in the required timescale (subject to unforeseen circumstances); and
3. provide an update on how it is reducing the backlog of complaints awaiting stage two investigations.
22. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

23. There has been fault by the Council because of its delays in starting a stage two statutory investigation under the Children Act 1989. This stage two investigation has now begun. Therefore, I am closing the complaint.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman