Summary: We uphold this complaint. The Council delayed considering a complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to complete its stage two investigation without further delay and will offer to make a payment to the complainant to remedy the time and trouble its delay has caused her.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mrs C, complains about the contents of a child and family assessment completed by the Council’s children with disabilities team. Mrs C has asked the Council to investigate her complaint at stage two of the Children Act statutory complaints procedure but has not received a response.

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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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share the final decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered Mrs C’s complaint and the Council’s responses to her. I contacted the Council and invited it to remedy the fault I had identified. I also sent a draft version of this decision to Mrs C and invited her comments.

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What I found

The statutory complains procedure

5. 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.
6. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
7. 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 investigator and an independent person who is responsible for overseeing the investigation. Councils have up to 13 weeks to complete stage two of the process from the date of request.
8. 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 days of the date of request, and then issue a final response within 20 days of the panel hearing.

What happened

9. In November 2020, Mrs C complained to the Council about the contents of a child and family assessment, completed by the Council’s children with disabilities team.
10. The Council responded to Mrs C’s complaint at stage one of the statutory complaints procedure. Mrs C was dissatisfied with its response, so in early December, she asked the Council to progress her complaint to stage two of the procedure.
11. After no progress had been made with her complaint, Mrs C contacted the Ombudsman in April. We contacted the Council and it accepted there had been delays completing its stage two investigation. It said that this was due to it not having an Independent Officer or Independent Person available to carry out the investigation.

Analysis

12. The Council should have completed a stage two investigation a maximum of 13 weeks after Mrs C requested it. It did not and this is fault. Mrs C has not received answers to the questions she raised about the Council’s assessment and has been denied the opportunity for independent oversight at stage two of the statutory complaints procedure. She has also been caused frustration by the delay.

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Agreed action

13. Within one month of the date of this decision, the Council has agreed to:
• Complete its stage two investigation and write to Mrs C to inform her of the outcome, ensuring it provides her with appropriate information about her rights under the process.
• Make a payment to Mrs C of £100 to remedy the time and trouble she has gone to in pursuing her complaint, and to reflect the Council’s delay in dealing with her complaint.

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Final decision

14. I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman