Summary: The Council delayed responding to Mrs B’s complaint and failed to consider it under the statutory procedure for complaints about children’s social care services. The Council has agreed to consider the complaint under the statutory complaints procedure without delay. It will also take action to prevent similar failings in future.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complains that the Council removed a child, who I will refer to as K, from her care without just cause and without warning. She says she was very distressed by this, and in particular she was concerned about how this affected K.

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What I have and have not investigated

2. I have considered how the Council has investigated Mrs B’s complaint, but I have not investigated the substantive issues. This is because they have not yet been properly considered by the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
6. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
• discussed the issues with the complainant;
• considered the documents the Council has provided; and
• given the Council and the complainant the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

Children’s Social Care Complaints

8. 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 (the guidance), ‘Getting the best from complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail.
9. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
10. 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 65 working days to complete stage two of the process from the date of request.
11. 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.
12. The guidance says once a complaint has entered stage one, the council must ensure the complaint continues to stages two and three if the complainant wishes, apart from in very limited circumstances when the council can make an early referral to us after stage two. 
13. The guidance lists who may complain using the statutory procedure. The council does not need consent from the child or young person to investigate a complaint from a person on this list. However, it may need consent from the child or young person to disclose information about them to the person making a complaint.
14. Section 26(3) and section 24D of the Children Act, 1989 and section 3(1) of the Adoption and Children Act, 2002 require the council to consider representations from any local authority foster carer, including those caring for children placed through independent fostering agencies.
15. Section 26(3) of the Children Act 1989 says all functions of the local authority under Part 3 of the Act may form the subject of a complaint under the statutory complaints procedure.

Overview

16. Mrs B registered as a foster carer with an independent fostering agency.
17. On 9 December 2021, K, a 10-year-old boy, was made the subject of a police protection order. He was removed from his home and placed in emergency foster care with Mrs B.
18. Three weeks later, the Council decided to remove K from Mrs B’s care. Mrs B says she was initially told that K was being removed because a placement had been found which was closer to his school. However, she then discovered a social worker had written a critical report about the care she had provided for K. Mrs B complained to the Council that the report contained blatant lies and hearsay. She said that she wanted to be exonerated and to receive a formal apology.
19. The Council did not uphold Mrs B’s complaint about the report completed by the social worker. It said that the report met the professional standards set out by Social Work England and took account of K’s welfare and safety.
20. The Council’s response included details of some of the social worker’s concerns about the placement. It said that these matters had been raised with Mrs B but it was felt that her responses did not address their concerns and so it was decided that K’s placement with Mrs B could not continue.
21. Mrs B was not satisfied with the Council’s response and asked to escalate her complaint.
22. The Council advised Mrs B that as an independent foster carer, she should contact her former agency to investigate and respond to her complaint. It said that it could not assist further with her complaint.

Analysis

23. Mrs B complained to the Council on 22 January 2022. She received an initial response on 20 May 2022, 81 working days later. The Council should have responded within 20 working days. This delay was fault.
24. As explained in paragraphs 14 and 15, foster carers are eligible to complain under the Children Act statutory complaints process about all functions under Part 3 of the Act.
25. The Council considered Mrs B’s complaint under stage one of the corporate complaints procedure. It should have considered Mrs B’s complaint under the statutory complaints procedure and offered to consider her complaint under stage two if she was not happy with its stage one response. It did not do so; this was fault.
26. The Council’s failings in this case have caused Mrs B distress and avoidable time and trouble.

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Agreed action

27. Within two weeks of my final decision, the Council will start the process of considering Mrs B’s complaints under the statutory complaints procedure. The investigation should include consideration of the delay in progressing Mrs B’s complaints so far, and the impact this has had on her. It should also include consideration of her complaints about the Independent Fostering Agency the Council used to place K with Mrs B. When a council commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf, it remains responsible for those services and for the actions of the organisation providing them.
28. Within eight weeks of my final decision, the Council will arrange training for relevant staff on the statutory complaints procedure, to ensure that it properly identifies the type of complaints which should be considered under the process in future.
29. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.
30. Once Mrs B has completed the statutory complaints procedure, if she remains dissatisfied, she can resubmit her complaint to the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

31. I have completed my investigation and uphold Mrs B’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice. The action the Council has agreed to take is sufficient to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman