Stoke-on-Trent City Council (25 001 435)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Looked after children 15-Jun-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with her child, who is in care. The law prevents us investigating how the Council conducted court action. Miss X could also reasonably have raised her concerns in court.

Manchester City Council (24 012 289)

Statement Upheld Looked after children 12-Jun-2025

Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s care of her when she was a looked after child and the way it handled her complaint. Miss X said she felt blamed for things that happened when she was a child. She said this affected her mental health, and caused unnecessary and avoidable distress. We find the Council at fault and this caused injustice. The Council will apologise to Miss X.

Hertfordshire County Council (25 000 231)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Looked after children 12-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with her child (C), who is now a young adult. Some of Mrs X’s concerns are too old to bring to us now. Other concerns relate to court proceedings and the law prevents us from investigating those issues.

Oxfordshire County Council (24 005 262)

Statement Upheld Looked after children 06-Jun-2025

Summary: Ms X complained on behalf of Miss Y about the way the Council dealt with her care and that of her child. The Council was at fault for delaying in completing some of the recommendations from the Children Act complaints procedure. This caused Miss Y frustration and uncertainty. The Council should apologise, make a payment and send us an action plan detailing how it will complete the recommendations.

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (24 002 642)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Looked after children 02-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint the Council did not send an apology as agreed. The Council has said it will send the apology. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (24 021 907)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Looked after children 01-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council declining to escalate Miss X’s complaint about its actions relating to her child in its care. Investigation would be unlikely to achieve any more than the Council’s own investigation has already provided.

London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (24 023 084)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Looked after children 01-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s historic complaint about the Council’s decision to allow her mother to have contact with her when she was a child in its care. This is because we could not carry out a full, fair and effective investigation of the matter now due to the very significant passage of time since the events complained about.

Lincolnshire County Council (24 020 392)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Looked after children 27-May-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this historical complaint about the Council placing Mr Y in a children’s home in the 1970s. We could not carry out a sound, fair and meaningful investigation given the time that has passed.

Torbay Council (24 022 422)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Looked after children 27-May-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in applying to discharge a care order for her children. We could not add to the Council’s investigation and responses under all three stages of the statutory complaints process.

Portsmouth City Council (24 022 059)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Looked after children 21-May-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the support provided to Mrs X and her husband in caring for a grandchild. The final arrangements were or could have been decided in court and a legal bar prevents us investigating the matters complained of. The complaint is also late, and there would be no good reason to exercise discretion to consider it now even if there were no legal bar created by the court action.