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

The complaint

1. Mr & Mrs X complaint that the Council failed to complete a stage two investigation under the statutory children’s 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 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)
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, where 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 been accepted at stage one the local authority is obliged to ensure the complaint proceeds to stages two and three if the complainant requests this.

Assessment

11. Mr & Mrs X escalated their complaint to stage two of the statutory procedure in February 2024. The Council says it expects to issue its stage two response by the end of April.
12. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely we would find the Council at fault. This is because by the time the stage two response has been issued there will have been a delay in the Council considering the complaint and issuing Mr & Mrs X with a stage two response. This has meant they has been to some significant time and trouble pursuing their complaint.
13. We therefore asked the Council to complete its investigation by the end of April, advising Mr & Mrs X how they can escalate their complaint further. We also asked the Council to apologise to Mr & Mrs X for the delay and offer to make a payment to them of £600 to remedy the time and trouble they have been too pursuing their complaint.
14. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and has agreed with our recommendation.

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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