Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council failed to consider a complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has now agreed to resolve the complaint by issuing a response without further delay. It will also apologise and offer to make a payment to the complainant to remedy the time and trouble they have been too.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council is failing to meet the needs of her child who is a child in need. Ms X asked the Ombudsman to intervene after she did not receive response to her complaint.

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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 this 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 information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X complained to the Council in April. Whilst the Council has offered to meet with Ms X it has not progressed her complaint via the statutory children’s complaints process.
7. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely we would find the Council at fault. This is because the there has been a delay in the Council considering the complaint and issuing Ms X with a stage one response. This has meant Ms X has been to some significant time and trouble pursuing her complaint.
8. We therefore asked the Council to consider the complaint under the statutory procedure and complete its stage one investigation within one month, advising Ms X how she can escalate her complaint further. We also asked the Council to apologise to Ms X for the delay and offer to make a payment to her of £250 to remedy the time and trouble she has been too pursuing her complaint.
9. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and has agreed with our recommendation.

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Final decision

10. We have upheld Ms X’s complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman