Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s children’s social care service. We have discontinued our investigation, because there is no worthwhile outcome we can achieve until Ms X receives the Council’s final response to her complaint.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about various ways in which the Council’s children’s social care service has failed her and her children.
2. The Council began considering a complaint from Ms X about these issues in March 2025 but is yet to send her its response.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but we must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant guidance.
5. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

6. The statutory guidance, ‘Getting the best from complaints’, sets out a three-stage procedure for complaints about certain aspects of children’s social care. I refer to this as ‘the statutory procedure’.
7. Parents can use this procedure to complain about their children’s social care assessment and support.
8. The benefit of the statutory procedure is that the parent gets an independent investigation of their complaint (at stage 2), and, if they wish, an independent review (at stage 3).
9. If a complainant wants to progress their complaint through all three stages of the statutory procedure, then they have the right to do so.
10. The Ombudsman normally expects councils (and complainants) to follow the full statutory procedure before involving us. A complaint can only be referred to the Ombudsman earlier if, following a robust stage two investigation, all significant parts of the complaint have been upheld.
11. Councils have 25 working days to respond to stage two complaints. However, in certain circumstances (such as if the complaint is particularly complicated), this can be extended to a maximum of 65 working days.
12. The Council accepted Ms X’s stage 2 complaint for investigation in March 2025, so it should have responded by late June.
13. Instead, the investigation remains ongoing.
14. It appears the delay so far arose from the Council’s prolonged failure to agree a statement of complaint with Ms X. This has now been resolved. And I have seen no evidence that there has been any further significant delay since then.
15. With this in mind, it would not be proportionate to recommend a fixed date for the Council’s stage 2 response. It should simply be issued without further delay.
16. This leaves only one potentially useful outcome which could be achieved by an Ombudsman investigation at this premature stage: a symbolic financial remedy to Ms X for the delay so far.
17. This is something which would be better addressed after the Council has sent
    Ms X its final complaint response (at which point, if there have been further delays, they could all be considered together).
18. Ms X has the right to return to us after receiving this final, stage 3 response. Until then, no worthwhile outcome would be achievable by our further involvement.

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Decision

19. I have discontinued my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman