Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council (24 020 547)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council not responding to his stage two complaint under the children statutory complaint procedure within the statutory timescales. This is because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council has not responded to his stage two complaint under the children statutory complaint procedure within the statutory timescales.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault causing the complaint injustice. This is because the Council should have completed stage two within 65 working days of Mr X’s stage two request. The Council noted it should have issued the independent investigator and independent person reports, and its adjudication response by the end of September 2024.
- The Council issued the stage two documents at the end of February 2025. This means there had been a delay of five months. I am satisfied the delay will have caused Mr X frustration.
- We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying this by completing the following:
- Apologise to Mr X for the delay in responding to his stage two complaint.
- Make a payment of £50 for each month of delay. A total of £250. This payment is to be made within four weeks of our final decision.
Agreed action
- The Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within the agreed timescales.
Final decision
- We have upheld Mr X’s complaint because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman