Summary: I uphold this complaint because the Council was at fault in delaying its response under the statutory process for complaints about children’s services. The Council has agreed to resolve the matter by providing a suitable remedy for the injustice the complainant has been caused.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs X, complains that the Council has delayed its response to her complaint about its handling of a child protection matter.

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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. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share the final 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

6. The evidence shows that the Council has accepted Mrs X's complaint under the statutory procedure for complaints about children's services. She asked for her complaint to be escalated to Stage 2 of the procedure in December 2022 and the Council acknowledged her request. However, it made no further contact with her until April 2023, at which point it told her an Investigating Officer and Independent Person had been engaged.
7. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing Mrs X injustice because the delay in beginning the Stage 2 investigation, and the failure to keep her updated, delayed resolution of her complaint and caused her avoidable uncertainty.

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Agreed action

8. We asked the Council to resolve the complaint by apologising to Mrs X and offering to make a payment of £100 to her to reflect the injustice caused by the delay in escalating her complaint and the failure to keep her updated.
9. To its credit, the Council has agreed to take the action we proposed.

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Final decision

10. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve it early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman