Summary: We find fault with the Council for failing to allow Mr B to progress his complaint through the Councils complaint process. This caused injustice to Mr B. The Council agrees actions to remedy the injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains about the way the Council responded to his complaint about child contact with his daughter.
2. He says the Council:
• Gave conflicting and inaccurate information in its correspondence with him.
• Refused to consider his complaints about his own treatment as a looked after child.
• Failed to handle his complaint correctly and refused to consider it at stage two of its complaint process.
3. Mr B says this caused him distress and meant he feels unable to establish contact with his daughter or consider having anymore children. He also says it has denied him the opportunity to have answers to the questions about his own childhood.

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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. 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

7. I considered the information provided by Mr B and the Council along with relevant law and guidance.
8. Mr B and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered all the comments I received.

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What I found

The Council’s complaint process

9. What follows is a summary from the Councils complaint procedure.
10. The Council sets out the stages of its complaints process and the actions and timescales for each stage:

Local resolution

11. When a complaint is received directly to the complaints team the team decides whether the issue is resolvable locally. All other complaints will be referred to the resolution stage.

Resolution stage

12. The complaints team identifies and briefs an appropriate manager to progress the complaint through the resolution stage.
13. The complaints team provide an acknowledgement to the customer within two working days to acknowledge the complaint and explain the next steps.
14. The manager will undertake information gathering within the service in relation to the complaint.
15. The manager will contact the complainant within five working days of the complaint being recorded at the resolution stage to discuss the complaint.
16. If the complaint remains unresolved the manager will discuss and agree an action plan with the complainant.

Review Stage

17. If the customer is still dissatisfied with the response and actions to resolve their complaint, then the complaint should be raised to the review stage. Where appropriate this will be a review by a senior manager unrelated to the service dealing with the complaint.
18. The complaints team will contact the complainant within two working days of complaint being at review stage to acknowledge that the complaint has been escalated to review stage and explain the next steps.
19. The senior manager conducting the review will discuss the complaint with the complainant and manager involved in the resolution stage and look at any evidence. At this point any problems that the complainant highlights should be reviewed. The senior manager will review whether the complaint was fully and fairly considered and everything possible was done to resolve the complaint.
20. The senior manager will send the report to the Council’s assistant director and director. The director will sign the report on behalf of the Council as confirmation that this is the full and final response.
21. A written response summarising the report will be sent to the complainant within 30 working days of the complainant asking for the complaint to be raised to the review stage. The complainant is provided with details of the Ombudsman as part of the final response.

Background

22. In 2008 the Council were involved with Mr B and his family because of child protection concerns. His stepdaughter and daughter were both made subject of interim care orders by the court. The court proceedings concluded in 2009 and Mr B’s daughter remained in her mothers care under a supervision order. Mr B was allowed contact supervised by children’s services. There were further concerns about Mr B in 2010 and 2012.

What happened

23. In June 2020 Mr B’s Member of Parliament (MP) wrote to the Council and complained on Mr B’s behalf:

“I write to represent my constituent, Mr B, with regard to raising a complaint in how he has been let down by Children's Services over a period of many years and action resulting from this lack of care has done irreparable damage to his life chances, his relationships and has meant he has never been able to have a proper relationship with his daughter”.

24. The MP included a letter from Mr B. Mr B outlined some of his experiences as a child in care. He also explained his current situation and desire to re-establish contact with his daughter. He asked the Council several questions about whether, and how, he could have unsupervised contact with his daughter.
25. In his letter the MP requested a full case review and suggested someone should meet with Mr B to discuss his complaint.
26. The Council replied to the MP. It said a full case review would be carried out and it would write to Mr B to answer his questions.
27. In July 2020 the Council wrote to Mr B and answered some of the points Mr B raised in his original letter.
28. In August 2020 Mr B wrote to the Council and asked for his complaint to progress to stage two.
29. He set out why he was dissatisfied with the response. He said:

“my specific questions were answered but contained contradictory information…. and also no reference or acknowledgement was made surrounding the abuse towards myself”.

30. Mr B asked for an independent review by someone outside of the team/ service he is complaining about.
31. In October 2020 the Council responded. It said:

“I have checked our system and can find no record of a complaint being received to this team. The documents you attached to your email….. relate to an enquiry submitted via the MP's office which does not fall within the remit of the complaints procedure”.

32. The Council also said it was “unable to accept historical complaints” (those made one year after the grounds to make representations arose). It referred Mr B to the Ombudsman if he was unhappy with the response.
33. Mr B said he could not understand why his complaint was not being investigated at stage two and asked if it would be possible to meet with someone to discuss his complaint. He said he did not want to take his complaint to the Ombudsman.
34. The Council provided its final response to Mr B in October 2020:

“The response issued to the MP's office was in reply to an enquiry raised by the MP's office. It was not a stage one complaint response. While an MP can raise concerns on behalf of a constituent, they do not have access to the complaints procedure.

As advised in my previous response, the issues raised are historical and do not fall within the remit of the complaint’s procedure. If you are unhappy with the Council's response, then you should contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman as advised”.

35. Mr B was unhappy with the response and complained to us.

My findings

36. The Council complaints procedure defines a complaint as:

“A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about the standards of service, actions or lack of action by the Council or its staff”.

37. It was clear from the start of Mr B’s correspondence with the Council that although there were some questions the underlying matter was a complaint.
38. The procedure also says who can make a complaint to the Council. This includes:
• Anyone acting on behalf of a person or organisation receiving a service from the Council can make a complaint e.g. next of kin or MP.
39. There were unnecessary delays throughout the period of correspondence. For example, Mr B asked for his complaint to be progressed to stage two in August 2020 and did not receive a reply until October 2020. It was not until October 2020, five months after his original letter, that the Council explained to Mr B it had not considered his correspondence as a complaint. I can understand why Mr B thought the Council was handling it as a complaint and was surprised to find out the otherwise.
40. The Council told Mr B it was “unable” to accept historic complaints. This is incorrect. The Council has discretion to do this and it should consider each case on its own merits when reaching a decision to avoid fettering its discretion.
41. I find fault with the Council. It failed to follow its complaint process and denied Mr B the opportunity to have his complaint properly considered and investigated. It caused him the additional time and trouble of bringing his complaint to us. The way the Council handled this matter caused Mr B distress and frustration, which was avoidable.
42. The Council says:

“It is accepted that whilst this request was processed through the Council’s ‘MP Enquiry’ process’ the communication clearly identified the matter as a complaint and it should have been referred to the Council’s Complaint Team at that point, to progress the matter under the appropriate complaint procedure. In learning from this complaint the Council is to review its MP Enquiry process and Corporate Complaints Policy to clarify which process should be progressed dependent on the nature of enquiry received”.

Agreed action

43. Within one month of my final decision the Council agrees to:
• Pay Mr B £250 for the distress, time and trouble it caused him.
44. The Council agrees to consider Mr B’s complaint in full at the review stage of its process. It should ensure it meets with Mr B to fully understand his complaint. It should also ensure it avoids delay and adheres to its timescales.
45. Within two months of my decision the Council agrees to:
• Remind all staff dealing with complaints how to handle complaints made by MPs on behalf of constituents in line with its complaints procedure.
   

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Final decision

46. I find fault with the Council causing injustice.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

47. I have not investigated the substantive issues raised in Mr B’s complaint. I have Council agrees to consider Mr B’s complaint at its review stage. If he remains unhappy with its response, he can bring his complaint to us and we will consider whether we should investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman