Summary: We found fault with the way the Council carried out the statutory children’s complaint procedure for the complainant (Ms X). This fault caused Ms X injustice. The Council has already apologised and agreed to complete stage three of the procedure and to make a symbolic payment to recognise Ms X’s distress. The Council also agreed to review its statutory children’s complaint procedure and provide training to its staff.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s actions before she and her husband adopted a child. She also says the Council failed to support them adequately during the adoption and after the Council decided to remove the child from their care.
2. Ms X complains about the Council’s complaint handling, including delays and the Council’s refusal to offer stage three.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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)
5. 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

6. I talked to Ms X and reviewed all the documents sent by her.
7. I reviewed the information provided by the Council and the Council’s ‘Complaints and Representations policy’.
8. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legal and administrative background

9. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services:
• The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond;
• 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;
• 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 details of the statutory children’s complaint procedure, including who should be involved, are explained in the statutory guidance ‘Getting the Best out of Complaints’:
• Councils must appoint an investigating officer and an independent person for stage two;
• The Review Panel for considering a complaint at stage three must consist of three independent people, i.e. not members or officers of the council to which a complaint has been raised;
• Councils must send their response to the Panel’s recommendations to the complainant within 15 days of receiving the Panel’s report.
11. Unless there are cross-boundary issues, where a complaint is accepted at stage one the complainant is entitled to pursue their complaint through stages two and three. (’Getting the Best from Complaints’ paragraph 3.1.5)
12. Councils should apply statutory children’s complaint procedure when considering complaints about assessments and related decision for adoption support services as well as removal of children who are or may be placed for adoption brought by people wishing to adopt a child or any other person whom arrangements for the provision of adoption services extend. (’Getting the Best from Complaints’ paragraph 2.3.1 and 2.6.1)
13. Councils have discretion to decide in cases where eligibility is not automatic whether or not an individual has sufficient interest in the child’s welfare to justify his own complaint being considered by them. (’Getting the Best from Complaints’ paragraph 2.8.1)

What happened

14. In mid-July 2021 the Council responded to Ms X’s and her husband’s (Mr Y) complaint at stage one. Ms X and Mr Y complained about the Council’s actions before and during their adoption of a child (A). The Council said the complaint would be considered through the statutory children’s complaint procedure.
15. At the beginning of November Ms X and Mr Y clarified the issues they remained unhappy about and asked the Council to consider their complaint at stage two.
16. In mid-January 2022 the Council told Ms X and Mr Y stage two of the investigation was in progress and a senior member of the Council’s staff was reviewing their complaint.
17. The Council commissioned an agency to carry out stage two investigation of Ms X’s and Mr Y’s complaint. An investigating officer (the Investigating Officer) and an independent person (the Independent Person) were appointed at the beginning of March. One and a half months later the complainants signed a statement of complaint.
18. The complainants regularly communicated with the Investigating Officer and at the beginning of November asked the Council for its response to the Investigating Officer’s report. Throughout November and December Ms X kept requesting the Council’s stage two response.
19. In the third week of January 2023 the Council sent Ms X its complaint response, in which it said the stage two complaint procedure had been conducted with the support of an external investigating officer and an independent person. Most of the complaint issues were partially upheld or upheld. The Council apologised for the delays in complaint-handling and offered a payment of £550 to recognise the impact of these delays on the complainants. The Council said it would undertake some service improvements and staff trainings and advised Ms X on her right to ask for stage three.
20. Two days later Ms X asked the Council to carry out stage three of the complaint procedure.
21. Ms X multiple times contacted the Council. The Council either failed to respond or acknowledged communication but failed to provide details of its actions.
22. Following Ms X’s meeting with a member of the Council’s complaint team in mid-May 2023, she received an email named “adjudication summary” with the list of still unresolved issued of Ms X’s complaint. The Council said it would provide Ms X with its response at the end of May.
23. Ms X brought her complaint to us at the end of July 2023. Responding to our initial enquiries the Council explained it had started investigating Ms X’s complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure but then had realised it would be more appropriate to consider it under its corporate process. Later during my investigation the Council clarified that when making its decision it had exercised its discretion which is allowed when adults make complaints that relate to a child but are not made on the child’s behalf.

Analysis

24. The Council dealt with Ms X’s and Mr Y’s complaint in a confused and non-transparent way. The Council failed to tell Ms X it had decided to consider her complaint as corporate rather than a statutory children complaint. On the contrary, even in its stage two adjudication letter the Council advised Ms X she could ask for stage three and throughout communication with her not once mentioned any changes with its complaint handling. This is not acceptable.
25. Besides the Council’s reasons for the change of the procedure demonstrate its lack of understanding of the eligibility criteria for the children’s representations procedure. Prospective adopters and people with parental responsibility are automatically eligible to raise concerns. Only when a person is not automatically eligible and their complaint relates to a child, councils can decide whether there is sufficient interest in the child’s interest to justify this person’s complaint.
26. When reviewing the way the Council dealt with Ms X’s complaint I found the Council failed to:
• Comply with the statutory timescales for completing stage two investigation. The stage two investigation should have been completed by the beginning of February 2022 but the Council sent Ms X its adjudication letter in mid-January 2023. The Council apologised for the delay and offered a payment of £550.
• Send Ms X the Investigating Officer’s report and the Independent Person’s report with its adjudication letter.
• Carry out stage three of the statutory children’s complaint procedure.
27. The Council’s failings amount to fault. This fault caused injustice to Ms X. Ms X was not given an opportunity to have her concerns reviewed by an independent review panel. The resolution of her complaint was further delayed. Besides she did not have all the stage two documents which would allow her to review the investigation findings.
28. The Council offered the payment of £550 for the delay in the stage two investigation. I consider it was sufficient for this part of the delay, however I will recommend an extra payment for the delay in carrying out stage three.
29. The Council has already apologised to Ms X for the injustice caused by the faults identified in this complaint.

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Agreed action

30. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, we recommend the Council within a week of my final decision send Ms X the Investigating Officer’s report and the Independent Person’s report prepared as part of the stage two investigation of her complaint.
31. We also recommend the Council within six weeks of my final decision complete the following:
• Appoint three independent people and hold a Review Panel for Ms X’s complaint following the statutory guidance ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’ paragraphs 3.11 – 3.18. Within 20 days from the panel hearing the Council will provide its final response to Ms X’s complaint;
• Pay Miss X £300, in addition to £550 which was offered by the Council in its stage two adjudication letter, to acknowledge her distress caused by the delays and other failings within the statutory children’s complaint procedure.
32. We also recommend the Council within three months of the final decision:
• Review its handling of statutory children’s complaints to ensure it complies with the timescales for each stage of the procedure;
• Provide its staff dealing with the Children’s Services complaints with the training on the statutory children’s complaint procedure and in particular who is eligible to bring complaints under this procedure.

The Council will provide evidence it has completed the actions above.

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Final decision

33. I uphold this complaint. I found fault in the way the Council dealt with Ms X’s complaint which caused her injustice. The Council has accepted my recommendations, so this investigation is at an end.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman