Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to follow the Children Act complaints’ procedure. It has now agreed to do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council failed to properly reply to her children services’ complaint.

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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 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 actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. 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.
6. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Mrs X complained in April 2023 about the operation of s20 accommodation, her child being moved without her consent, issues about their care and other connected matters. The Council replied in its one stage corporate procedure in June 2023. It said it had used this procedure because most of the complaint was about how the Council treated Mrs X as an adult.
10. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing Mrs X injustice because some issues are about the care of a looked after child and therefore should have been replied to within the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure. Also, some of the complaints which are more centred on Mrs X as an adult, are about her complaining as a parent on behalf of her child.

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Agreed action

11. The Council has agreed to:
• complete a Children Act stage two statutory complaints’ procedure within 65 working days of this decision.

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Final decision

12. I uphold this complaint as the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman