Summary: Ms X complained about how the Council handled her housing situation when she became homeless and its failure to complete the recommendation made during the stage 3 of the statutory complaints procedure. There was fault by the Council for its delays with completing the statutory complaints procedure and its failure to complete the recommendation made by the review panel at stage 3. This caused injustice to Ms X. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council did not:
1. provide her with accommodation for 13 weeks before her 18th birthday when she was homeless
2. provide evidence which was requested during Stage 3 of the children’s statutory complaints procedure to show what the Council did to support Ms X as a Child in Need in the period prior to her being accommodated on 25 August 2023.
2. Ms X said the matter affected her negatively because she did not have a full care leaver support package and that the Council failed to retrospectively grant her a ‘former relevant child’ status.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. Where a council has investigated something under the children’s statutory complaints procedure, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it unless we consider the investigation was flawed.
5. 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(1), as amended)
6. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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What I have and have not investigated

7. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
8. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman in October 2025, so this investigation should start from October 2024 (12 months prior to her complaint to the Ombudsman). However, to make a meaningful investigation, I have exercised discretion to investigate matters from July 2023 when the Council received a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) referral about Ms X. Therefore, I have investigated matters from July 2023 to October 2025.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

11. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 says councils must safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need. A child is in need if:

• they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development unless the council provides support;
• their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired unless the council provides support; or
• they are disabled.

12. Young people accommodated under Section 17 are generally not eligible for statutory leaving care packages when they turn 18.
13. A Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) referral is an official process used to report concerns about a vulnerable child or adult who may be at risk of abuse, neglect, or significant harm.
14. Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 says councils shall provide accommodation to any child in need within their area who needs it, because:

• there is nobody with parental responsibility to care for them;
• they have been lost or abandoned; or
• the person who has been caring for them being prevented from providing suitable accommodation or care.

15. Where a 16 or 17-year-old seeks help from local authority children services or is referred to children services by some other person or agency as appearing to be homeless, children services must carry out an assessment of what duties, if any, are owed to them … where the duty in section 20 of the 1989 Act is triggered, the local authority are under a duty to accommodate the child (Looked After Child).
16. A former relevant child is a care leaver aged 18 to 25 who was previously an eligible or relevant child. Local authorities owe this group extensive support, including maintaining a Personal Adviser, reviewing a Pathway Plan, and providing financial assistance for housing, education, and training.
17. A qualifying care leaver is a young person aged 16 to 21 (or up to 25 if in education) who spent a brief period in local authority care. Specifically, this means the young person was in care for less than 13 weeks after their 14th birthday but was looked after on or after their 16th birthday. While a qualifying care leaver does not qualify for the intensive support packages and statutory plans given to "eligible" or "relevant" care leavers, local authorities are still legally required to provide them with targeted advice and assistance.

Statutory Complaints Procedures

18. 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. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
19. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
20. At stage two, 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. The whole stage two process should be completed within 25 working days, but guidance allows an extension for up to 65 working days where required.
21. 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 working days of the date of request and then issue a final response within 20 working days of the panel hearing.

Key events

22. In 2023, following an incident, Ms X left her family home, and she moved to a relative’s house.
23. In early July, the Council received a MASH referral for Ms X with concerns she was homeless. The referral also stated the Council should complete a section 20 assessment for Ms X in line with the Children Act 1989, so she could be provided with accommodation. Ms X was 17 years old at the time.
24. In early August, Ms X made a self-referral to the Council and asked it to provide her with accommodation because her relative had asked her to leave their house. Ms X also said she could not go back to her family home.
25. A few days later, the Council allocated Ms X’s case to a social worker and it completed a child and family assessment for her. The outcome of the assessment was for a child in need process to continue.
26. On 25 August, the Council provided Ms X with accommodation in a children’s home under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
27. On 30 August, Ms X told the social worker she wanted to be moved to an accommodation under section 20 based on her discussion with her advocate. On the same day, Ms X became a ‘looked after child’ and she was provided with a semi-independent placement under section 20 as requested. The Council told Ms X that the accommodation would come to an end mid-September 2023.
28. On 12 September, Ms X made a complaint to the Council. The Council issued its stage 1 response on 3 October 2023, and it did not uphold her complaint.
29. Ms X then asked the Council to escalate her complaint to stage 2 of the statutory complaints procedure on 14 November 2023. Ms X’s complaint points were:

• Point 1 – the Council did nothing from when she moved out of her family home and became homeless to when it completed an assessment for her in August 2023.
• Point 2 – the Council delayed completing a child in need assessment for Ms X which resulted in the Council’s decision to consider her as a ‘qualifying care leaver’ rather than a ‘former relevant child’.
• Point 3 – the Council did not provide her with a personal advisor.

30. In November, Ms X turned 18 years old.
31. On 4 November 2024, Ms X’s complaint was not upheld at stage 2, which the Council agreed with in its adjudication letter (15 January 2025).
32. On 13 February 2025, Ms X asked for her complaint to be escalated to stage 3.
33. On 16 June, the stage 3 panel hearing was held and the findings were:

• Point 1 – the panel was not clear about what action the Council took in response to the July 2023 MASH referral as to whether the Council completed a section 17 child in need assessment for Ms X and whether she required accommodation as a ‘looked after child’ under section 20. The panel found this matter was inconclusive.
• Point 2 - the panel found this complaint point was closely linked with Point 1. The panel was of the view that if Ms X had been in a position to make an informed decision about section 20 accommodation on or around early July 2023 after the MASH referral and/or in early August 2023 (at the start of the assessment), then she would have qualified as a ‘former relevant child’ when she reached the age of 18. This was because Ms X would have spent more than 13 weeks in the care of the Council. The panel found this complaint point was inconclusive.
• Point 3 – was not upheld because the panel found the Council provided Ms X with a personal advisor.

34. In relation to complaint points 1 and 2, the panel recommended that within two weeks of the date it issued its stage 3 response, the Council should show what actions it took in response to the July 2023 MASH referral which reported Ms X as homeless and asked that an assessment for accommodation was completed under section 20 of the Children Act.
35. On 17 July, the Council issued its adjudication letter. The Council agreed with the panel’s findings, and it apologised for its delays with the complaint process. In response to the panel’s recommendation, the Council said:

• it acted accordingly in relation to the July 2023 MASH referral. The Council said the stage 2 investigators had full access to the social care files and that the details of the actions it took were set out in the stage 2 report.
• a further review of Ms X’s file and chronology found the same details as set out in stage 2 investigation report.

36. Ms X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s responses and its failure to complete the panel’s recommendation. Ms X made a complaint to the Ombudsman.

Analysis

37. In this case, I am satisfied a comprehensive independent investigation was conducted via the statutory complaints procedure with appropriate findings and recommendations. I do not consider the investigation was flawed and therefore, I have not re-investigated the substantive matters. However, my investigation will be to consider whether the Council completed the review panel (stage 3) recommendation.
38. While the Council responded to the panel’s recommendation in its 17 July 2025 adjudication letter, it failed to demonstrate what action it took between July 2023 and August 2023. This covers the period from when it received the MASH referral to when it assessed Ms X and provided her with accommodation. This was fault and it caused Ms X distress, frustration and uncertainty.
39. There were also delays by the Council with completing the statutory complaints procedure. It took the Council almost two years to complete the complaints procedure. This delay was over a significant period, and it was fault. It caused distress and frustration to Ms X.
40. The Council apologised to Ms X for its complaint handling delays. I do not consider this to be sufficient to remedy the injustice caused to Ms X and it is not in line with our guidance on remedies. This will be addressed in the ‘action’ section below.

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Action

41. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, the Council has agreed to complete the following actions within one month of the final decision:

• apologise in writing to Ms X to acknowledge the injustice caused to her by the Council’s faults as identified above. The apology should be in accordance with our guidance, Making an effective apology
• make Ms X a symbolic payment of £500 to acknowledge the injustice caused to her by the Council’s delays with completing the statutory complaints procedure in line with our guidance on remedies
• provide evidence the Council completed the stage three panel recommendation to show what actions the Council took from July 2023 after it received the MASH referral which reported Ms X as homeless and asked that an assessment for accommodation was completed under section 20 of the Children Act until August 2023 when it provided Ms X with accommodation.

42. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

43. I find fault by the Council causing injustice to Ms X. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman