Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council has failed to respond to her stage two complaint within the statutory timescales. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has failed to respond to her stage two complaint within the statutory timescales.

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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. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns.
6. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault causing Ms X an injustice. This is because the Council should have completed stage two of the statutory procedure within 65 working days of Ms X’s escalation request.
7. Ms X agreed her stage two statement of complaint in October 2024. Taking this as the escalation date, this means the Council should have issued its stage two adjudication response by the end of January 2025.
8. The Council said it intends to issue the response by the end of the month. Therefore, this is a delay of a month.
9. We therefore asked the Council to remedy this by completing the following:
• Apologise to Ms X for the delay in responding to her stage two complaint.
• Make a payment of £50 to acknowledge the frustration caused by the delay within four weeks of the final decision.
• Issue the stage two independent investigation report, the independent person report, and its adjudication response by 1 March 2025.

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Agreed action

10. The Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within the agreed timescales.

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Final decision

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

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman