Summary: The Council was at fault in how it responded to Miss X’s complaint about its children’s social care service. This caused Miss X avoidable distress and frustration, for which the Council agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment. It will also begin a stage two investigation of Miss X’s complaint under the children’s statutory complaint’s procedure.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained that, when a referral was made to the Council’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) about her during her pregnancy, the Council:
• Did not clearly explain the initial assessment procedure, nor that her involvement with it was voluntary;
• Did not provide clear information nor an explanation for its actions, and did not inform her each time her case was escalated;
• Used threatening terms such as “court proceedings”, “child protection orders”, and “social care joint custody”;
• Breached her confidentiality by contacting her partner without her consent, and shared sensitive and incorrect information with him;
• Unreasonably delayed the pre-birth assessment;
• Did not provide her with the social worker’s report until less than 24 hours before the initial child protection conference (ICPC);
• Arranged that ICPC for two days after she had given birth;
• Forced her to remain in hospital longer than she wanted by threatening court proceedings, and
• Unreasonably continued to escalate from child in need through to child protection proceedings, against the advice of the social workers who had met Miss X, and after the ICPC meeting had found in her favour.
2. Miss X also complained to the Ombudsman that the Council did not respond to her complaint. She said the Council’s actions had caused her significant distress at a sensitive time and had a long-lasting impact on her and her family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
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)
5. 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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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance. I discussed the complaint with Miss X on the telephone.
7. Miss X and the Council now have an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I will consider any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

Child in need

8. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 says councils must safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need.
9. A child is in need if:

• They are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development unless the council provides support;
• Their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired unless the council provides support; or
• They are disabled.

Child protection

10. Under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, where a council has reasonable cause to suspect that a child in their area is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm, it has a duty to make such enquiries as it considers necessary to decide whether to take any action to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare. Such enquiries should be initiated where there are concerns about abuse or neglect.

Children’s statutory complaints procedure

11. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about certain children’s social care services. This includes complaints about support for children in need. Councils must use the procedure where they receive a complaint about a matter that falls under the scope of the procedure.
12. 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.
13. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
14. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two. At stage two 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. 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.
15. 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.

Statutory complaints which include elements outside the statutory procedure scope

16. Councils may receive complaints about council services which include statutory and non-statutory elements. Section 47 (child protection) of the Children Act is one of the main children’s areas that does not come under the statutory procedure. A council may, for example, receive a complaint about support it has provided to a child in need, and about how it decided to start child protection proceedings for that child.
17. Councils must use the statutory procedure where a complaint contains elements which come under its remit (such as Section 17 of the Children Act – child in need) as long as the complainant is eligible. Where a complaint includes elements which come under the statutory procedure and elements which do not, councils should consider whether to incorporate them into a single investigation under the procedure. We consider it good practice to carry out a single investigation, where the matters are related.

The Council’s corporate complaints procedure

18. The Council’s corporate complaints procedure says that the Council will deal with a resident’s complaint in two stages. At the first stage, the service complained about (in this case, children’s social care) investigates and responds within 10 working days. The response should include contact details for the feedback and resolutions team so the resident can escalate their complaint to that team for a stage two review. The feedback and resolutions team will provide a full response within 20 working days, that should include signposting to the Ombudsman.

What happened

19. Miss X complained to the Council in mid-November 2024 about the matters set out at paragraphs 1-2.
20. In mid-January 2025, the Council responded to Miss X’s complaint at stage one of its corporate complaints procedure. This letter concluded by saying that, if Miss X remained dissatisfied, it was open to her to escalate her complaint to the Ombudsman.
21. Miss X did not receive this response and chased the Council in early March. The Council re-sent its January response, but again Miss X did not receive it.
22. Miss X approached the Ombudsman in July 2025. In November 2025 we sent her a copy of the Council’s response to her complaint. She said it did not satisfy her and she asked us to investigate.

My findings

23. The statutory children’s complaints procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns. This independence is not available to complaints put through the corporate complaints procedure. Because of this, we expect people to complete the statutory complaints procedure before we will consider whether there were any flaws in how the Council investigated their concerns. As a result, I have only investigated the Council’s handling of Miss X’s November 2024 complaint.
24. The Council must use the statutory procedure for matters which come under its scope. That includes support the Council provides to children in need, such as Miss X’s unborn child. While some of Miss X’s complaints were about child protection proceedings, the issues that relate to child in need proceedings clearly fall under the procedure. When it received Miss X’s complaint, the Council should have accepted it under the statutory procedure and decided what parts of the complaint were separable from Miss X’s concerns about child protection. It should have communicated its decision to Miss X and begun a stage one statutory investigation.
25. The Council was not at fault for Miss X not receiving the corporate complaint response when it sent it twice. But the Council’s failure to use the statutory procedure was fault, and its failure to use the correct procedure also meant it failed to consider whether to include the corporate issues in the statutory complaint or address them using the corporate procedure. When the Council provided a stage one response under the corporate complaints procedure, it did not offer to escalate matters to stage two if Miss X remained dissatisfied or provide contact details of the feedback and resolutions team. This was also fault.
26. Miss X had to approach the Ombudsman in order to get a response to her complaint using the correct method. That caused her avoidable frustration, for which I have recommended a remedy below. This includes that the Council should be begin a stage two investigation under the procedure and complete it without delay. The Council should consider whether to include the other matters in its stage two investigation and communicate its decision to Miss X. Miss X said she would prefer a single investigation and we would consider it good practice.
27. If the Council decides not to include the elements of the complaint relating to child protection proceedings in its stage two statutory investigation, it should instead provide Miss X with a stage two response under its corporate complaints procedure.
28. If, once Miss X has completed the statutory children’s complaints procedure, she remains unhappy, she may complain to the Ombudsman again. Where an investigation has completed all three stages, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it. However, we may look at whether a council has correctly followed the procedure and remedied any injustice appropriately. Where we consider a council has not remedied someone’s injustice, we can recommend further action.

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Action

29. Within one month of the date of my final decision, the Council should agree to take the following actions.
1. Apologise to Miss X for the frustration she experienced because of its failure to investigate her complaint under the statutory complaints procedure. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology.
2. Pay Miss X £200 in recognition of that frustration.
3. Begin a stage two investigation under the statutory complaints procedure. It will complete that investigation within 65 working days. The Council should contact Mrs X to explain the process to her.
4. If it decides not to include the elements of the complaint relating to child protection proceedings in its stage two statutory investigation, the Council should provide Miss X with a stage two corporate complaints response to those matters.
30. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

31. I find fault causing injustice. The Council should agree actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman