London Borough of Harrow (24 022 000)

Report Upheld Other 07-Jul-2025

Summary: Mr X complained the Council had not taken action to ensure that he and his wife have the respite care for their child that the family is entitled to. Mr X said this caused him and his family distress, worry, uncertainty, and frustration. The Council failed to investigate the complaints under the children’s service statutory complaints procedure following our earlier recommendation, and failed to respond to us when we asked the reasons why. We therefore have concerns about the Council’s governance arrangements to administer the statutory children’s complaints procedure.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (24 010 138)

Report Upheld Other 30-Jun-2025

Summary: We found the Council failed to complete the recommendations made after it considered a complaint Ms X made through the children’s statutory complaints procedure. Her complaint to the Council was about matters including disabled adaptations to her home and a child and family assessment. We previously upheld other complaints from Ms X about other occasions when the Council failed to act on the recommendations from the children’s statutory complaints procedure which caused her frustration and uncertainty. We therefore have concerns about the Council’s governance arrangements to administer the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The fault in this investigation once again caused Ms X frustration and uncertainty and shows the Council is not taking enough action to learn from its mistakes.

London Borough of Lewisham (24 015 996)

Report Upheld Other 24-Jun-2025

Summary: During two earlier investigations, we identified that faults in the way the Council was operating its children’s statutory complaints procedure were potentially causing injustice to others. We opened this new complaint to investigate. We found that complainants have experienced delay, and in some cases, have been denied their right to access the full complaints procedure.

Sheffield City Council (25 004 128)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 24-Jun-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council included his confidential address in a court report. This is because the law says the Ombudsman cannot investigate what happened in court.

Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council (24 009 485)

Statement Not upheld Child protection 24-Jun-2025

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to safeguard her children; failed to provide appropriate respite and failed to provide an appropriate remedy for the complaints it upheld. I find no fault in respect of the safeguarding or respite and consider the remedy provided is in line with the amounts normally recommended by the Ombudsman.

Devon County Council (24 010 136)

Statement Upheld Child protection 24-Jun-2025

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council did not deal with a child protection issue properly, resulting in avoidable distress. The Council is at fault because it failed to deal with a child protection issue and took too long to investigate. Mrs X and her family suffered delay and avoidable distress. The Council should pay Mrs X £500 for time and trouble, pay Mrs X £2000 for avoidable distress and re-issue its final written response to the investigation.

Kent County Council (24 012 466)

Statement Upheld Disabled children 24-Jun-2025

Summary: Miss B complained the Council has taken away respite support provided for her disabled son, without considering the impact on her. The Council was at fault for its failure to consider Miss B’s complaint through the children’s statutory complaint procedure. Because of the fault, Miss B suffered distress and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss B and consider her complaint through the children’s statutory complaint procedure.

Birmingham City Council (24 015 604)

Statement Upheld Other 24-Jun-2025

Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed considering a complaint at stage three of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has now agreed to resolve the complaint by issuing its stage three response within one month. It will also apologise and make a payment to the complainant to remedy the time and trouble they have been to.

London Borough of Southwark (24 017 918)

Statement Upheld Other 24-Jun-2025

Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to help her family including support for her daughter with suicidal ideation, not providing suitable education and leaving the family in a house where they were at risk. The Council was at fault for failing to consider the complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. It will now consider Ms X’s concerns through the statutory procedure as well as apologising and making a payment for failing to do this originally.

London Borough of Barnet (24 021 065)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Child protection 24-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Miss X’s time in Council care between 2016 and 2021. While it is understandable that she has not complained sooner, we would be unlikely to be able to conduct a robust investigation or achieve a worthwhile outcome.