Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s actions in respect of its care of her daughter, Miss Y, and the way in which it dealt with her complaint about the matter. We have not found fault with the Council.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained that Devon County Council (the Council) failed to take sufficient action to safeguard her daughter, Miss Y, or properly respond to her complaint about the matter. Miss X has been caused significant distress and inconvenience by the situation.

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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 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)
3. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
4. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
5. 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)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. Miss Y is now an adult and we do not have her consent to investigate a complaint about her. I have only investigated the Council’s actions in relation to Miss X.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I have considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant, spoken to the complainant, made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided. Miss Y and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
8. 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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What I found

9. In July 2023 Miss Y (who was then 17) came into the care of the Council with the agreement of Miss X and Miss Y. Miss X attended the initial ‘looked after child’ meetings and the Council provided updates to her about her daughter.
10. In early July Miss X also complained to the Council about the lack of care of her daughter who was vulnerable.
11. In early September 2023 the Council discussed the complaint with Miss X and agreed a series of actions it would do. Miss X then emailed the Council to say she was no longer in agreement with Miss Y being cared for by the Council.
12. The Council had further discussions with her about its care of Miss Y and sent her Miss Y’s care plan along with an explanation of the legal agreement she had signed and steps it was taking to safeguard Miss Y. As Miss Y was over 16 and in agreement with the plan, Miss X could not object to it or take Miss Y back.
13. Miss Y’s social worker had contact on several occasions in October 2023 with Miss X regarding Miss Y. Miss X was invited to a second ‘looked after child’ meeting, but Miss X did not attend; she said Miss Y did not want her there. The Independent Reviewing Officer contacted Miss X after the meeting to update her on what happened.
14. The social worker arranged a telephone catch-up with Miss X in mid-November 2023 and responded to concerns Miss X raised. The social worker continued to contact Miss X in December 2023 but said she was leaving the Council’s employment.
15. Miss X contacted the duty social worker in February 2024, asking for an update and complaining that mediation had not started with Miss Y. Miss Y turned 18. She moved into different accommodation and transferred to a different social work team.
16. We agreed to investigate Miss X’s complaint in April 2024. In response to my enquiries the Council explained that it did not send a formal response to Miss X’s complaint due to pressures on the complaints service and children’s services. The service manager left without responding to the complaint, so the new service manager arranged a call with Miss X to discuss her concerns and agreed some actions but did not send a formal written response. The Council decided to close the complaint as it felt the team manager had resolved Miss X’s concerns and it did not want to stop her escalating the complaint to us.
17. It acknowledged this was not an ideal outcome and it said it would not happen again as the complaints service was now fully resourced. It said it is also introducing a tracking system for open complaints to improve management oversight of open and overdue complaints.

Analysis

18. I understand the situation with her daughter must have been very stressful for Miss X. But I consider the Council kept her updated as far as it could on Miss Y’s situation and included her in meetings. The social worker had regular contact with her through the autumn of 2023 until they left in December. There was a slight gap in early 2024 but Miss Y then turned 18 and was an adult. I have not found fault with the Council’s actions in communicating with Miss X.
19. The Council has accepted it did not respond properly to Miss X’s complaint, but it has now made improvements to its services to prevent the problem recurring. This was fault which caused Miss X some inconvenience in having to complain to us. However, as it could not tell Mis X any more information about Miss Y, I do not consider the outcome would have been different had a fuller complaint response been given. The Council gave Miss X the key information about the legal position and Miss Y’s situation.

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Final decision

20. I have completed my investigation as I do not think the failure to respond to Miss X’s complaint properly caused Miss X a significant injustice and we are not able to investigate the substantive elements of Mis X’s complaint.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman