Devon County Council (23 011 565)
Category : Children's care services > Looked after children
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 22 Nov 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mrs X complained about the way the Council dealt with the care of her children. The Council was at fault for not considering Mrs X’s complaint through the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council will apologise to Mrs X for the frustration and uncertainty this caused and consider her complaint further.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains about the way the Council has dealt with the care of her children. She says the Council:
- went back on an agreement to pass information/gifts to her daughter without delay and without reading or listening to it;
- failed to properly manage family time between her and her son;
- shared personal family information with her son when specifically asked not to;
- refused to allow a family history meeting to take place; and
- failed to respond to her complaints about this matter.
- Mrs X says this has caused her and her family significant stress which has caused her husband to lose his job.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
- If we are satisfied with an organisation’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)
- Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered the information Mrs X and the Council provided.
- Mrs X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered these comments before making a final decision.
What I found
Legislation and guidance
Statutory complaints procedure
- 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 first stage of the procedure is local resolution. 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 investigating officer (IO) to look into the complaint and an independent person (IP) who is responsible for overseeing the investigation and ensuring its independence.
- Following the investigation, a senior manager (the adjudicating officer) at the council should carry out an adjudication. The officer considers the IO report and any report from the IP. They decide what the council’s response to the complaint will be, including what action it will take. The adjudicating officer should then write to the complainant with a copy of the investigation report, any report from the independent person and the adjudication response.
- 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.
What happened?
- Two of Mrs X’s children are in the care of the Council.
- Mrs X made a complaint to the Council in September 2023 about the way it had dealt with the care of her children.
- The Council responded to this in April 2024 through its corporate complaint procedure.
- In March 2024, Mrs X made a further complaint to the Council about the care of the children.
- Mrs X says the Council did not respond to this complaint fully.
Analysis
- The Children Act 1989, and associated Regulations, give parents (such as Mrs X) the right to make complaints about how councils have carried out certain social work functions.
- They are entitled to use the statutory complaints procedure, which gives them access to an independent investigation.
- Mrs X’s complaints were about social work functions, which are subject to the statutory procedure. However, instead, the Council processed Mrs X’s complaints through its corporate complaint procedure.
- This is fault by the Council, which caused Mrs X frustration and uncertainty as she did not get access to an independent investigation into her concerns.
- Mrs X asked the Ombudsman to consider the substantive issues she listed in her complaint. However, government guidance says we cannot accept complaints subject to the statutory procedure until, at the very least, a robust independent investigation has been completed.
Agreed action
- Within four weeks of our final decision, the Council will:
- apologise to Mrs X for the frustration and uncertainty caused by failing to consider her complaints under the statutory complaints procedure;
- progress with investigation of Mrs X’s complaint at stage two of the children’s complaints procedure and confirm appointments of an investigating officer and independent person to Mrs X; and
- remind staff dealing with children’s services complaints of the importance of following the statutory complaints procedure in relation to looked after children.
- The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.
Final decision
- I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault causing injustice.
Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman