Summary: We uphold Mr X’s complaint that the Council has failed to reply to his complaint within its Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure. The Council has agreed to make a payment for the injustice caused by this and to now complete the procedure.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I will call Mr X, says the Council failed to reply to his children services complaint properly.

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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 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)
3. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share the final decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).
4. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

The statutory complaints’ procedure

7. 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.
8. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
9. 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.
10. 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.

What happened

11. Mr X, a former looked after child, complained to the Council that it had failed to sort out his citizenship application before he was 18. He says the delays have caused huge stress and may detrimentally affect his application. He says he first complained in 2019. It is clear he complained in February 2022. The Council replied within its corporate complaints’ procedure in April and June about other matters but did not address the immigration complaint. He chased the Council for a response to this. It said in September 2022 to Mr X’s representative, that it would not reply as it wanted direct consent from Mr X.
12. Mr X has provided us with consent for his representative to complain on his behalf.
13. The Council’s responsibility to carry out the immigration application is part of its duties under the care of a looked after child and pathway plans. This means his complaint is a Children Act statutory complaint.
14. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing Mr X injustice because the Council has failed to use the Children Act complaints’ procedure.

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Agreed action

15. The Council has agreed to within 20 working days of the date of this decision:
• Complete Stage One of the Children Act complaints’ procedure and provide Mr X with his rights to seek a Stage Two investigation
• Should Mr X seek a Stage Two investigation, the Investigating Officer should speak directly with Mr X
• Make a payment of £150 to Mr X for the delays in replying to his complaint so far.

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Final decision

16. I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman