Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has failed to deal with his complaint about his son who is in care and problems with contact arrangements. The Council has agreed to deal with the complaint and keep to the legal time requirements. Mr X may return to this office if he disagrees with the outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to deal with his complaints made in 2019 and early 2020 under the statutory complaint procedure. The complaints to the Council include contact arrangements between Mr X and his son who is a ‘looked after child’ living in foster care.
2. Mr X complains the Council has at times stopped and/or failed to arrange contact. He says the Council fails to promote contact with his son and has undermined their relationship.
3. Mr X complains that the Council’s looked after child review minutes are not accurate. He says social workers do not accurately record the wishes of parents and children. He says he has not always been kept informed about changes in his son’s education and health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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’. 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 action the Council has agreed to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered Mr X’s information and comments and discussed the complaint with him by telephone. I have considered the complaint correspondence and discussed the matter with the Council.

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What I found

6. Complaints about children who live in Council care are dealt with under the Children Act 1989 Representation Procedure Regulations 2006. The law requires councils to deal ‘expeditiously’ with complaints (regulation 10). Councils must deal with complaints at each stage within the time requirements (regulation 17). Stage 1 is 10 working days with a maximum extension of 10 days. Stage 2 is 25 working days which can be extended to 65 days. Where a council receives an oral complaint at stage 2 (regulation 16) it will prepare a written record and invite a comment on it from the complainant. In limited circumstances a complaint can be closed where there is a ‘concurrent consideration’ such as court proceedings.
7. In October 2019 Mr X complained to the Council shortly after a looked after child (LAC) review. Mr X expressed concern about the accuracy of review minutes. He complained about the education of his son and that for 12 months the Council had undermined his relationship with his son.
8. On 9 December 2019, the Council replied at stage 1 of the complaint procedure, apologising for the delay. The reply dealt mainly with LAC review issues.
9. On 23 and 24 December 2019 Mr X telephoned and emailed the Council. After the conversation he asked the Council to confirm that it was refusing to deal with his complaint at stage 2 saying he would complain to this office. The Council told Mr X it was not refusing to deal with the complaint. It asked him to explain why he disagreed with the stage 1 reply.
10. On 27 January 2020 Mr X emailed the Council and complained that the Council’s social worker had stymied the development of his relationship with the boys. Mr X has since repeated his complaints to the Council. For example, on 17 December 2020 he said contact had stopped in 2019 (he tells me this was for 6 months and says he later had monthly unsupervised contact). He believes this caused distress to his son. He complains the Council was undermining rather than promoting contact. He says he was not informed of changes in his son’s education or health. Mr X tells me he found out his son had changed school in a telephone call with him last December.
11. The Council has not completed Mr X’s stage 2 complaint. The Council says it had contacts from Mr X last May and June. On 5 July 2020 he agreed ‘initial terms of reference’. It says Mr X then refused to work with the stage 2 investigating officer and independent person. On 30 July 2020, the Council applied its unreasonable behaviour policy to Mr X due to his abusive emails (which I have seen). The single point of contact is the customer relations manager.
12. On 4 February, the Council informed me: ‘Mr X’s complaint is suspended at the moment due to a lack of cooperation with the complaints procedure’. On 8 February, the Council told me on 21 January 2021 it instructed the investigating officer and independent person at stage 2. It is, ‘confident that they will complete their investigation within statutory timescales’.

Analysis

13. I will not investigate this complaint because the Council has agreed to complete the complaint procedure within the legal time limits. I have explained to Mr X he should go to stage 3 (review panel) and then return to this office if he disagrees with the outcome. He may contact this office if there is significant delay.
14. The Ombudsman would likely find fault with the Council’s handling of this complaint and the failure to complete the complaint procedure last year. The Council had a clear written complaint from Mr X about contact on 27 January 2020. It should have completed stage 2 by the end of April (see paragraph 6 above). The Council should have realised that its stage 1 reply did not fully deal with either the contact arrangements or the complaint about education.
15. Councils must keep to the legal time limits. There is no provision to ‘suspend’ a complaint, as the Council says it did, and the reason given (lack of cooperation) is not valid. If the Council believed it could not proceed it should have closed the complaint and advised Mr X to come to this office. Some of Mr X’s communications are abusive and unreasonable. However, that is not a reason for departing from the complaint handling time requirements.

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Recommended/agreed action

16. The Council has agreed to deal with Mr X’s complaint at stage 2 of the statutory complaint procedure and to keep to the legal time limits.
17. The Council needs to review the handling of this complaint and its approach to dealing with oral complaints (as the stage 2 request initially was). It needs to ensure that seeking agreement from complainants does not take it outside the legal time requirements.
18. Given the significant delay so far, the stage 2 investigating officer and Council will need to consider the impact on Mr X and his son. There may be a need for a compensation payment.
19. The stage 2 complaint reply needs to explain the arrangements for contact with reference to such matters as the duty to promote contact subject to the welfare of the child, the wishes and feelings of the child, and the long-term care plan. It should also explain any periods when there has not been direct or indirect contact.

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Final decision

20. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has failed to deal with his son who is in care and problems with contact. The Council has agreed to keep to the complaint and keep to the legal time requirements. Mr X may return to this office if he disagrees with the outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman