Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council failing to provide her with adequate care leaver support and with providing her with incorrect information. This is because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to provide her with adequate care leaver support. She says insufficient knowledge and understanding are provided to personal advisors, which led to incorrect information being given to her. She said this led to her accruing council tax arrears and the matters proceeding to court.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault causing Miss X an injustice. This is because Miss X’s complaint falls under the children’s statutory complaint procedure as the service complained about falls under Part 3 of the Children Act 1989, and the Council failed to progress the complaint appropriately.
6. Miss X emailed the Council at the end of July 2024 expressing dissatisfaction with the Council’s stage one complaint response. While I acknowledge Miss X did not explicitly state she wished to escalate to stage two, the content of her email made it clear she was not happy with the response and wanted the Council to take further action. If the Council was unsure if her response was a stage two request, it was reasonable for the Council to have contacted Miss X to clarify.
7. The Council said it had made several attempts to engage with Miss X to get further information about her complaint and to clarify what complaint matters she wished to be considered at stage two. The Council said Miss X declined to engage and provide further information about her complaint.
8. However, Miss X has submitted a written request which the Council can take as her stage two escalation request. It is good practice for the Council to prepare a separate complaint summary to outline its understanding of the complaint. If the complainant does not agree to the Council’s statement of complaint, but the Council is confident it understand what the complaint is, it should tell the complainant it intends to continue with the investigation. The Council should offer a final opportunity for the complainant to either agree with the statement, or to provide further clarity about their complaint.
9. Conversely, if the Council does not consider it has enough information to define the complaint, it should write to the complainant to explain it cannot continue with the complaint investigation unless they can explain what they are unhappy about. There should be a clear rationale for why the Council considers there is not enough information to proceed. If the Council decides to end its investigation, it should signpost the complainant to us.
10. There is no evidence the Council did any of the above. This meant the complaint was left to drift, with no conclusion. I am satisfied this likely fault will have caused Miss X frustration.
11. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by completing the following:
• Apologise to Miss X for the delays in progressing her complaint.
• Make a payment of £50 per month to recognise the frustration caused by the delay. A total of £200.
• Review Miss X’s stage 2 written request and determine if there is sufficient information to proceed to stage two. If the Council is satisfied there is sufficient information, the Council is to summarise the complaint and share this with Miss X. The Council is then to proceed to stage two, regardless if Miss X agrees with the summary or if she fails to engage with the Council. If the Council considers it does not have sufficient information to proceed, it should write to Miss X to explain it has ended its investigation and provide its reasons why. The Council should also signpost Miss X to us.

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Agreed action

The Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within four weeks of the final decision.

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Final decision

12. We have upheld this complaint because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman