Summary: Mr X complains the Council has not dealt properly with Children’s Services, resulting in avoidable distress. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complains the Council has not dealt with Children’s services properly.
2. Mr X says he has suffered avoidable distress.

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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 must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. 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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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Mr 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

Law, guidance and policies

7. 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. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
8. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
9. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two. At this stage of the procedure, councils appoint an investigating officer (IO) to look into the complaint and an independent person (IP) who is responsible for overseeing the investigation and ensuring its independence.
10. The whole stage two process should be completed within 25 working days but guidance allows an extension for up to 65 working days where required.
11. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage two investigation, they can ask for a stage three review by an independent panel. The council must hold the panel within 30 working days of the date of request, and then issue a final response within 20 working days of the panel hearing.

What happened?

12. This is a brief chronology of key events. It does not contain everything I reviewed during my investigation.
13. Mr X was involved with the Council’s Social Services from May 2024. His son was placed in child protection and Mr X’s contact with him was restricted.
14. Mr X complained to the Council in February 2025. The Council provided a response to Mr X’s complaint in May 2025. This response covered 6 separate complaint issues relating to data protection, drugs tests, late response, meeting locations, a risk assessment and report outcome.
15. Mr X was unhappy with the Council’s response. The Council appointed an independent investigator to establi.sh the nature of his dissatisfaction and his ongoing complaints.
16. Following a meeting with the Independent Investigator 15 areas of complaint were identified. Two of the 15 complaint areas had been considered through Mr X’s initial complaint from February.
17. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaints under Stage 1 of the Statutory Children’s complaints process in November 2025.

Analysis

18. The Council’s stage 1 complaint response in November 2025 offered Mr X the opportunity to progress parts of his complaint to stage 2 if he remained dissatisfied with the response.
19. The Council has confirmed it will complete the statutory complaints process.
20. Mr X should complete the statutory complaints process before complaining to the Ombudsman. To do so, Mr X should respond to the Council explaining which parts of the stage 1 complaint response he is unhappy about and why.

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Decision

21. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman