Summary: Mr and Mrs X complain the Council was at fault in how it dealt with their complaint about its Children’s Services following involvement with their family. The Council has accepted it was at fault and delayed progressing the stage one and two of the complaint procedure. It has apologised and offered a payment in recognition of the time and trouble Mr and Mrs X have been put to in pursuing their complaint, so we are completing our investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainants whom I shall refer to as Mr and Mrs X complain about the way the Council dealt with their complaint about the actions of Children’s Services during its involvement with their family.
2. Mr and Mrs X complain there have been delays by the Council in considering their complaints. And despite the complaints being upheld by a Stage two independent investigation and a Review Panel hearing the Council has not complied with the findings. This included providing Mr and Mrs X with a copy of specific documents, the content of which they dispute, to allow them to produce a summary of corrections to alleged factual inaccuracies. Mr and Mrs X say the Council agreed to ensure it locates the summaries alongside their child’s record and cross referenced so they can be easily seen if the file is read.
3. Mr and Mrs X say the Council was also required to apologise to them for all the upheld elements of their complaint. Although the apology has been made Mr and Mrs X says they cannot accept it due to the Council’s lack of response to their request to access records. Mr and Mrs X say the apology should be recorded on their child’s file and they have seen no evidence of this.

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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. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. At stage 2 of this procedure, the Council appoints an investigating officer and an independent person (who is responsible for overseeing the investigation). If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage 2 investigation, they can ask for a stage 3 review. If the Council has investigated something under this procedure, we would not normally re-investigate it unless we consider the investigation was flawed. But we may look at whether the Council properly considered the findings and recommendations of the independent investigation.
7. 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

8. I have read the papers submitted by Mr and Mrs X and spoken to Mrs X about the complaint. I considered the Council’s comments on the complaint and the supporting documents it provided. I have explained my draft decision to Mr and Mrs X and the Council and considered the comments received.

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What I found

Key events

9. The Council became involved with Mr and Mrs X and their child from 2011 following concerns about the child’s welfare due to Mr X’s behaviour and actions caused by mental ill health. Mr X left the family home in 2015 because of his mental health issues and returned to the family home following rehabilitation.
10. Mr and Mrs X complained to the Council in September 2015 about its involvement with the family and what they felt was lack of support. The Council acknowledged the complaint in November 2015 and responded at Stage one in December 2015. Mrs X responded to the stage one in January 2016 and the Council and Mrs X wrote for several months about the matter.
11. Mrs X requested escalation to stage two of the complaint procedure in April 2016. The Council corresponded with Mrs X and moved the complaint to stage two in September 2016. The Council appointed an independent Investigating officer (IO) and an independent person (IP).
12. The IO and IP meet with Mr and Mrs X in October 2016 to discuss the complaint and agree a statement of complaint. Mr and Mrs X agreed the statement in May 2017 after several drafts and the IO began the investigation. A key officer was away from the office for several months and Mr and Mrs X agreed to suspend the investigation in July 2017 until the officer’s return in September 2017.
13. Mr and Mrs X received a draft stage two report from the IO in January 2018 and raised concerns the IO had changed the wording in their statement of complaint. Mr and Mrs X meet with the IO and IP to discuss the draft report in February 2018. The IO and IP submitted a final stage two report to the Council in April 2018.
14. The IO considered there were four elements of Mr and Mrs X’s complaints;
• Element one – a complaint about poor communication and correspondence from the Council’s Children’s Services which did not help the family resolve the issues they were facing.
• Element two – Mr and Mrs X considered the Council’s information about them in reports and minutes of meetings were factually inaccurate.
• Element three- Mr and Mrs X said there was no clear plan made when Mr X was attempting to return home.
• Element four – Mr and Mrs X complained their child had not received the support they should have received.
15. The IO upheld elements one, two and three of Mr and Mrs X’s complaints and made recommendations to the Council. These included changes in operating systems and an apology to Mr and Mrs X for the elements of poor service delivery the Council accepted had happened. The Council accepted the outcome of the stage two investigation and apologised to Mr and Mrs X. The Council responded to the recommendations made by the IO and explained to Mr and Mrs X the actions taken as a result.
16. Mr and Mrs X remained unhappy with the outcome of the investigation and in June 2018 escalated their complaint to a Review Panel hearing at stage three of the complaint procedure.
17. The Review Panel considered Mr and Mrs X’s complaints in September 2018. Mr and Mrs X attended the hearing and agreed before the hearing elements one, two and three would not be discussed due to being upheld at stage two. The panel considered Mr and Mrs X’s concerns about the statement of complaint not being fully copied into the IO’s report and element four.
18. The Review Panel upheld the four elements of Mr and Mrs X’s complaints and recommended actions to the Council. These included;
• Considering how Statements of Complaints are formulated in the future to reflect and identify fully elements of complaint to be investigated at stage two.
• The Council to respond positively to Mr and Mrs X’s request for specific documents to allow then to produce a summary of corrections to alleged inaccuracies. And the summaries be placed by their child’s record and cross referenced to direct any future readers to them.
• The complaint investigation and outcome be recorded on the child’s file.
• The Council accept the change of finding for element four and apologise for all the upheld elements of the complaint. The apology to be recorded on the child’s file.
19. The Council accepted the recommendations of the Review Panel and wrote to Mr and Mrs X in November 2018 to advise of this and apologise for the upheld elements. The Council explained the actions taken to deal with Statement of Complaints and it had a more robust quality assurance process for the complaints procedure after appointing a Complaints Manager for Children’s Services.
20. The Council agreed to progress Mr and Mrs X gaining access to records and to ensure summaries when received would be added to the child’s file with the complaint documents.

Council comments on the complaint

21. The Council accepted there were delays at stage one of the complaints procedure from September 2015 to November 2015 when progressing the complaint. The Council says it took time dealing with the complaint after issuing the stage one response. This was due to officers trying to resolve issues raised by Mr and Mrs X when disagreeing with the information held about them in the documents. The Council says officers spent time with Mr and Mrs X to help them explain what they wanted and were unhappy about. And to amend the records in a way they were happy with as far as the Council reasonably could. The Council says Mr and Mrs X began to challenge the amendments they had made at previous meetings as inaccurate therefore amending their own amendments.
22. The Council has also accepted it delayed in escalating the complaint to stage two after Mrs X’s request in April 2016. The Council says this was due to officers trying to resolve Mr and Mrs X’s concerns about inaccurate information. In commenting on the draft decision statement Mr and Mrs X say the delay was also due to an officer failing to respond to their correspondence.
23. The Council says the stage two investigation was a lengthy process as it took time for Mr and Mrs X to agree the statement of complaint with the IO and IP. The complaint process was then suspended for a few months due to a key officer being absent.
24. However, despite the time taken to complete the complaints procedure the Council says Mr and Mrs X confirmed at the stage three hearing they were provided with every opportunity to express their complaints. And they felt the hearing had been conducted properly and fairly.
25. The Council says it accepted the change of finding at the Review Panel and fully apologised for this although the apology has not been accepted. But the Council accepts it should have offered a remedy for the time and trouble taken by Mr and Mrs X to progress the complaint due to the delays at stage one and two. The Council has offered Mr and Mrs X £200 to acknowledge and apologise for the delays.
26. The Council says the issue of changes made to the Statement of Complaint by the IO were raised at the Review Panel hearing. The IO explained to the Panel the changes. The Council has provided a document showing the differences between the Statement of Complaint and the complaint report. It shows a few changes to terminology and wording, but they do not lose the meaning of the Statement and the Council considers all points were investigated.
27. The Council says after the Review Panel hearing officers tried to identify the inaccuracies Mr and Mrs X considered were in the documents. Mrs X said in November 2018 she was struggling with amendments. The Council says it did not set a timescale for Mr and Mrs X to provide the amendments but agreed to review the matter after three months. Mrs X told the Council in February 2019 she wished to see her child’s records to see what was there already to challenge the information. The Council advised Mrs X to make a Subject Access Request (SAR) to obtain the records.
28. Mr and Mrs X sent the SAR to the Council in March 2019 and have now received the documents. The Council says there were staffing difficulties to enable it to provide the SAR documents more swiftly. The Council says it advised and apologised to Mrs X about the delays. The Council confirms its commitment to working with Mr and Mrs X to ensure their views are placed on record and with alleged inaccuracies fully recorded.
29. The Council confirms once it receives Mr and Mrs X’s comments it will add this to their child’s records with the complaint documents. The Council says it proposes to add the comments and complaint documents on the child’s file at the same time. Therefore, the complaint documents are currently not showing on the child’s file.

Comments on the Draft Decision Statement

30. Mr and Mrs X commented on the draft decision statement and advised due to their ill health they have been unable to progress the summaries on the alleged factual inaccuracies. The Council says it is still open to Mr and Mrs X to do so or place something on the file to record any content they dispute. The Council confirms it will place a copy of the adjudication letter from the Stage two investigation on the file of Mr and Mrs X’s child at the conclusion of the Ombudsman’s investigation.

My assessment

31. The Council has considered Mr and Mrs X’s complaints through stages one, two and three of the complaint procedures. I have considered the changes made to the Statement of Complaint by the IO, but I do not consider the changes in terminology and wording make the investigation flawed. The documents I have seen show the complaints raised by Mr and Mrs X were fully considered by the Council through the complaint procedure. Mr and Mrs X accepted this at the Review Panel hearing.
32. The Review Panel decided to uphold element four of Mr and Mrs X’s complaints. But I do not consider this makes the stage two investigation flawed as it is a decision the Review Panel is entitled to make. So, I do not consider there are grounds to reinvestigate the complaints raised by Mr and Mrs X. In any event the issues Mr and Mrs X complain about happened in 2015 so I do not consider any reinvestigation would achieve a different outcome for them now after such a passage of time.
33. The Council accepted it caused some delay with the stage one and two. It has offered Mr and Mrs X a payment of £200 in recognition of the time and trouble taken to progress the complaint. I consider this is a suitable offer for the delays identified by the Council. It is unfortunate it has taken Mr and Mrs X some time to complete the complaint procedure, but I cannot say it is wholly due to any fault or actions of the Council.
34. The Council’s documents show it has accepted the recommendations made and acted as required. This includes the apology to Mr and Mrs X. It is unfortunate the apology has not been accepted but this is a matter for Mr and Mrs X. The Council has apologised according to the recommendations made.
35. The Council says it remains willing to work with Mr and Mrs X on the amendments they wish for and to add these to the files. The Council accepts it has taken time to respond to the SAR and apologised which I consider is suitable action for it to take. It is now for Mr and Mrs X to complete the summaries of what they perceive the inaccuracies to be and submit these to the Council. I do not consider I can achieve anything further for Mr and Mrs X.
36. It is unfortunate that due to ill health Mr and Mrs X have been unable to complete the summaries as they wished. However, the Council says it is still open to them to do so or place a document on the file to record their disagreement with some of its content. The Council will also now place a copy of the Stage two adjudication letter on the file. I consider this is suitable action for the Council to take.

Agreed action

37. Within one month of the date of the decision the Council pays Mr and Mrs X £200 in recognition of the time and trouble they have taken to progress the complaint.

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Final decision

38. I am completing my investigation. The Council has accepted it delayed in dealing with stage one and two of the complaint procedure. It has apologised and offered a suitable payment in recognition of the time and trouble caused to Mr and Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman