Nottinghamshire County Council (19 016 569)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Council failed to follow the statutory process for dealing with complaints by children about social care when Miss X complained it failed to deal properly with an allegation that a teacher caused her son physical harm. The Council will arrange a second stage investigation under the statutory procedure for children’s complaints about social care.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains her son was physically harmed by a teacher and the Council did not properly investigate this, or deal with her subsequent complaint properly, causing the matter to remain unresolved.
What I have investigated
- I have investigated whether the Council has dealt with Miss X’s complaint properly. I give my reason for not investigating the Council’s response to the allegation at the end of this statement.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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)
- 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.
How I considered this complaint
- I read the Council’s final response to Miss X and spoke to her on the telephone. I referred to Getting the Best from Complaints 2006, which is statutory guidance laying out the mandatory procedure councils with social care duties must follow when dealing with complaint by or on behalf of children. I shared a draft of this decision with both parties and invited their comments. I considered those I received.
What I found
Background
- Miss X told the Council her son was physically harmed by a teacher. The Council did not substantiate the allegation.
- Miss X was unhappy and complained about the conduct of the investigation.
What should have happened?
- The Council considered Miss X’s complaint at Stage 1 of the statutory procedure laid out in Getting the Best from Complaints 2006. It could only refuse to move her complaint to Stage 2, which is an investigation by an officer with an independent person overseeing it, in limited circumstances. These are where it has upheld the whole complaint, or where it becomes clear the complainant is not entitled to complain on the child’s behalf.
What happened, and was it fault?
- When the Council did not uphold her complaint at the first stage, Miss X asked the Council to consider it at Stage 2. The Council wrote back, refusing, saying this would not lead to a different outcome. This was fault. The Council had accepted Miss X’s complaint under the statutory procedure, and she was dissatisfied by the Council’s response at Stage 1 of that procedure, which had not upheld her complaint. Regardless of the Council’s views about the likelihood that a Stage 2 investigation would lead to a different outcome, it is not for the Council to substitute its own methods for a statutory procedure.
Agreed action
- The Council will arrange a Stage 2 investigation in accordance with Getting the Best from Complaints 2006 within one month of the final decision.
Final decision
- I have upheld the complaint about the Council’s failure to deal with Miss X’s complaint properly. I have closed the case as the Council will carry out a Stage 2 investigation under the statutory complaints procedure.
Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate
- I have not investigated the Council’s handling of the original allegation. This is because it is for the Council to do so in accordance with statutory guidance. Should Miss X remain dissatisfied at the end of the statutory complaints procedure, she is welcome to return to the Ombudsman. She should do so promptly unless she is prevented from doing so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman