Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s children services actions. It is reasonable to expect Mrs X to use the Council’s Children Act complains procedure.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council has failed to meet her child’s needs.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Mrs X provided with her complaint, and the Council’s replies which it provided. I considered Mrs X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

4. Mrs X says she complained to the Council in the Spring of 2019 that her child’s additional needs were not being met. The Council provided a reply in May 2019. Mrs X remained unhappy. She met with the Council in September. The Council then believed the case had been settled. Mrs X complained to us and wishes to pursue her complaint. She says she does not understand why the Council believed the case settled.
5. The law sets out a three stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. At stage 2 of this procedure, the Council appoints an Investigating Officer and an Independent Person (who is responsible for overseeing the investigation). If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage 2 investigation, they can ask for a stage 3 review. If a council has investigated something under this procedure, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it unless he considers that investigation was flawed. However, he may look at whether a council properly considered the findings and recommendations of the independent investigation.
6. Mrs X says she believed the complaint process had been completed because the Council referred her to us.
7. The Council has now agreed to start the stage 2 investigation. Local resolution is usually the best way to resolve complaints. It is reasonable to expect Mrs X to use this process.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to complete the Council’s statutory complaints procedure.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman