Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about children services’ actions. We have upheld Miss X’s complaint as the Council has now agreed to follow the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure and has agreed a proportionate way to resolve the complaint.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council failed to properly reply to her children services’ 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 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)
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 Miss X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Background procedure

6. 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.
7. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
8. 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.
9. 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’s events

10. Miss X complained in June 2024 to the Council about a failure to meet her daughter D’s disabled needs. The Council replied at stage one of the Children Act statutory complaints procedure in July 2024. Miss X requested escalation to stage two in July 2024 and chased this in September, and twice in December 2024. The Council told us in April 2025 it had replied via its mediation process.
11. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because this complaint falls under the Children Act statutory complaints procedure and the Council has failed to follow the regulations to complete a stage two investigation.

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Agreed action

12. The Council has agreed to:
• Complete a Children Act statutory complaints procedure stage two within 65 working days of our final decision and inform Miss X of her rights under the procedure.

• Pay Miss X £300 to reflect the injustice to her (delay, uncertainty and distress) by the failure to reply to her complaint properly.

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Final decision

13. We have upheld this complaint because we asked the Council to remedy the injustice caused by not using the right procedure and it has agreed a proportionate remedy for Miss X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman