Kent County Council (24 004 277)
Category : Children's care services > Disabled children
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 18 Aug 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about children services’ actions. We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint as the Council has now agreed to follow the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure.
The complaint
- Mrs X, says the Council failed to properly reply to her children services’ complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Background procedure
- 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.
- The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
- 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.
- If a complainant is unhappy with the result 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.
This case events
- Mrs X complained in February 2024 about matters including the failure to properly assess and support her child whom she says has additional needs. The Council replied at stage one of its corporate complaints’ procedure in April 2024. This did not resolve Mrs X’s complaint and she requested a review. The Council considered her complaint and replied at stage two of its corporate complaints’ procedure in June 2024.
- If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because the subject matter of the complaint should have been replied to within the Council’s Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure.
Agreed action
- The Council has agreed to:
- Complete stage two of the Children Act statutory complaints procedure within 65 working days of the date of this decision.
- Inform Mrs X of her rights under the Children Act procedure.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman