Summary: We found fault with the Council for the way it provided special guardianship support in relation to contact sessions. It also failed to use the statutory complaint procedure to consider Ms B’s complaint. This caused Ms B an injustice. The Council agreed actions to remedy the injustice.

The complaint

1. Ms B complains about the Council’s actions in respect of a special guardianship order and contact arrangements.
2. She complains the Council failed to:
• provide her with notes of the supervised contact sessions and obstructed her request to see them; and
• review the contact supervision arrangements.
3. Ms B says this caused her distress. She says she needed to see the notes from the sessions to get important feedback on how the sessions were going, in the supervisors opinion.

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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’. 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)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’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 spoke to Ms B and considered the information she provided with her complaint. I made enquiries with the Council and considered its response with the relevant law and guidance.
8. Ms B and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I carefully considered any comments I received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

9. Sometimes parents cannot look after their children. These children may need the council to accommodate them, making them looked after children. This may be through a care order granted by the Court, or by agreement with the parents under section 20 of the Children Act 1989
10. Some family and friends carers decide to go to court (sometimes with the help of the council) to gain a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) for a child. This would mean the child is no longer a looked after child. It would give the person with the order some, but not all, parental responsibility for the child. The carer would then be free of the controls placed on looked after children and their carers. It would allow them to decide such things as the child’s health matters and schooling.
11. There is statutory guidance for Council’s on the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005.
12. Under section 14F of the regulation, the Council must make arrangements for the provision of special guardianship support services. This includes assistance in relation to contact between the child and their parents.
13. Under the regulations a parent may complain about assistance in relation to contact.
14. 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. The guidance says who can complain and what they can complain about.
15. Generally, assessments and services in relation to special guardianship support should be considered under the statutory complaint procedure.

What happened

16. Ms B’s child, C, does not live with her. C was made subject of a SGO in 2018. They live with their special guardian and have supervised contact with Ms B.
17. When the Court granted the SGO it also directed that Ms B should have three contact sessions a year with C. The Court directed the Council to produce an amended care plan.
18. Ms B complained to the Council. She said it did not provide her with a copy of the supervised contact session notes. She also said it had not reviewed the supervision arrangements.
19. The Council provided a final response in November 2020. It upheld Ms B’s complaint the Council had failed to review the contact arrangements. It told Ms B it would:
• Review the supervision requirement for contact between Ms B and C.
• Document the decision and write to Ms B to explain its decision making.
• Provide Ms B with an update on or before 21 December 2020.
20. Ms B remained unhappy and complained to the Ombudsman.

My findings

Special guardianship services

21. The Council said:

“When supervised contact is arranged the reason for contact, whether it will be supervised, records etc should be made clear including how any records will be shared. The contact record should be shared with the carer and parents attending contact”.

22. I asked the Council for a copy of its correspondence with Ms B about the SGO, contact supervision, contact session notes and reviews. It was unable to provide any evidence of these documents. This is fault.
23. Ms B asked the Council for a copy of the contact session notes. It told her to apply for these via a subject access request. This was unnecessary. The Council should have provided Ms B with a copy of the notes. This is fault.
24. In its complaint response the Council told Ms B it would review the supervision requirement and provide her with an update by 21 December 2020. The review did not take place and the Council did not write to Ms B, as agreed in its complaint response. This is fault.
25. Ms B said there was a meeting about the SGO and contact on 11 September 2019. The case notes from this meeting raised the following points:
• Ms B and the special guardian were not clear why contact should be supervised.
• Ms B wanted a clear understanding of the risks.
• The care plan on the (Council) system was not the final amended version.
• Ms B asked for copies of the contact session notes.
26. The Council failed to follow this up and did not minute the meeting and provide a copy of the agreed outcomes with Ms B. This appears to be fault.
27. The fault I have identified above caused Ms B an injustice. She was left without a proper understanding of the contact arrangements and decision making. She was also not provided with the contact notes. This was important to her so she could understand how the assessor viewed her interactions in the sessions. This caused Ms B distress.

Complaint procedure

28. The Council failed to use the correct complaint process to consider Ms B’s complaint. It said:

“It was not considered that the complaint was made on behalf of C, but was a continuation of Ms B’s understandable attempts for her dissatisfaction about the service(s) provided to her to be considered as formal complaints”.

29. Special guardianship support is one of the Council functions included in the statutory complaint procedure.
30. Parents can make a complaint in their own right and do not need the child’s consent to do so.
31. The failure to use the correct complaint procedure denied Ms B the opportunity to have her complaint considered independently. During its own handling of the complaint the Council failed to follow up on some of the actions it agreed in its response. It also failed to consider any potential injustice it caused Ms B.
32. This caused Ms B further injustice because it added to her distress, and she was put to the additional time and trouble of bringing her complaint to us.

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Agreed action

33. Within one month of my final decision the Council agrees to:
• Apologise to Ms B for the faults identified in this statement.
• Pay Ms B £300 in recognition of the distress, time and trouble it caused her.
• Provide her with a copy of the contact session notes to date and arrange for all future contact session notes to be sent to Ms B.
• Meet with Ms B and answer any questions about the contact sessions. This meeting should be fully minuted. A copy of the minutes and agreed actions should be sent to Ms B within seven days of the meeting. The Council should also provide a copy to the Ombudsman.
34. Within two months of my final decision the Council agrees to:
• Review its policy on contact sessions and communication with parents (or other family members) of children subject of an SGO. If it does not have a policy, it should consider producing one or how it could be added into a relevant existing policy.
• Remind relevant officers of the functions included in the statutory complaint procedure and who can make a complaint.
35. The Council should provide evidence it has completed the agreed actions.

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Final decision

36. I found fault with the Council causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman