Summary: The Council is at fault in that it has unreasonably delayed responding to Mrs B’s complaint about its management of the case relating to her and her daughter. The Council has agreed to appoint an Investigating Officer and begin Stage 2 of the statutory complaints procedure, and to offer to make a payment to Mrs B to remedy the unnecessary uncertainty and distress she has been caused.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs B, complains about the Council’s actions during child protection enquiries relating to her and her daughter. She further complains that the Council has unreasonably delayed dealing with the complaint.

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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 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’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)
4. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
7. The complainant’s representative has had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and I have considered his comments.

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My assessment

The statutory complaints procedure

8. 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.
9. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
10. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s Stage 1 response, they can ask that it is considered at Stage 2. 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 2.
11. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the Stage 2 investigation, they can ask for a Stage 3 review by an independent panel. The Council must hold the panel within 30 days, and then issue a final response within 20 days of the panel hearing.

Analysis

12. The Council is considering Mrs B’s complaint under the statutory procedure for children's services complaints. Mrs B’s representative requested escalation to Stage 2 of the procedure in June 2020. The Council has not yet appointed an Investigating Officer.
13. The Stage 2 process should have been completed by the end of September 2020 and is therefore already significantly delayed. Investigation is likely to conclude the Council's failure to meet statutory timeframes is fault, which has caused Mrs B unnecessary uncertainty and distress, and delayed resolution of the complaint.

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Agreed action

14. The Council has agreed that, by the end of September 2021 it will:

• appoint an Investigating Officer and begin the Stage 2 process, confirming this to Mrs B’s representative in writing, and
• offer to make a payment of £300 to Mrs B to remedy the uncertainty and distress she has been caused by the delay in initiating Stage 2.

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Final decision

15. I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman