Summary: The Council has agreed to arrange a stage 3 panel review of Ms J’s complaint about children’s services, so the Ombudsman should not investigate it at this stage.

The complaint

1. Ms J complains about children’s services’ involvement with her family.

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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 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(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

2. I have considered the information Ms J provided with her complaint, and information provided by the Council about the progress of the complaint through the complaints procedure.

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What I found

3. The law sets out a procedure for considering complaints about children’s services. Not all aspects of children’s services are covered by this procedure. Complaints about child protection, for example, are usually matters for a corporate complaints procedure. Ms J’s complaint is about this, and about data protection, which is another, entirely separate matter.
4. But Ms J’s complaint is also about support provided to a child in need, and what has happened while her daughter has been in the Council’s care. These are both matters which fall squarely within the statutory procedure, and the Council has correctly used this procedure to consider Ms J’s complaint.
5. Under this procedure, there is an independent investigation, and then the Council must issue its adjudication on the complaint. The Council did this in May 2019. The adjudication letter ended by saying that if Ms J wanted her complaint reviewed, she should contact the Council within 20 days.
6. It is not clear whether Ms J met this timescale, but at some point she requested a stage 3 review, because I have seen the Council’s response to her request. This says that the Assistant Director is of the opinion that a review panel would not add anything further as no new information has come to light.
7. Under the statutory procedure, it is not open to the Assistant Director to review the request for a stage 3 review and decide to refuse one on this basis. The statutory procedure guidance says:
8. Where a complaint is accepted at Stage 1, the complainant is entitled to pursue their complaint further through this procedure … once a complaint has entered Stage 1, the local authority is obliged to ensure that the complaint proceeds to Stages 2 and 3 of this procedure, if that is the complainant’s wish.
9. There are some circumstances in which the Council may discuss with the complainant an early referral to the Ombudsman, without a stage 3 review taking place. But this complaint does not meet the criteria.
10. It is usually in everybody’s best interests for a complaint to complete this procedure before we consider a complaint. The Council has now agreed to arrange a stage 3 review of Ms J’s complaint. So there is nothing more the Ombudsman can achieve at this stage. Ms J can contact us again if she remains unhappy after stage 3 of the procedure.

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Agreed action

11. The Council has agreed to arrange a stage 3 review of Ms J’s complaint.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint, because the Council has agreed to take satisfactory action towards resolving it.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman