Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to investigate her complaints under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council delayed by six months in providing a stage 1 response to Mrs X’s complaints. It should apologise, pay Mrs X £180 and move without further delay to stage 2 of the procedures.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council failed to investigate her complaints under the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
2. Mrs X says that this has caused her frustration particularly because she is still waiting for some of the matters she complained about to be resolved.

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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. 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)
5. 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

6. I read Mrs X’s complaint and spoke with her about it on the phone.
7. I considered the relevant law, the children’s complaints procedure statutory guidance - Children's social care: getting the best from complaints, and our Guidance for practitioners on the children’s statutory complaints process .
8. I gave Mrs X and the Council the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

The children’s statutory complaints procedure

9. There is a formal procedure, set out in law, which councils must follow to investigate certain complaints about children’s services. The procedure aims to ensure concerns are resolved swiftly and, wherever possible, by the people who provide the service locally.
10. Statutory guidance (the Guidance) provides details of what may form the subject of a complaint under this procedure. This includes all local authority functions within Part 3 of the Children’s Act 1989, which sets out the services councils must provide for children and their families in their area. The Guidance says a complaint may arise because of many things such as an unwelcome or disputed decision, concerns about the appropriateness or quality of a service, the impact on a child or young person of the application of a local authority policy or delivery or non-delivery of services including complaints procedures.
11. The children’s statutory complaints procedure involves three stages:
• Stage 1 - Local resolution by the council. This should take 10 days with a further 10 days for more complex complaints;
• Stage 2 – an investigation by an investigating officer not involved in the service who will prepare a detailed report and findings. The investigation is overseen by an independent person to ensure its impartiality. This stage should take 25 days or 65 days for complex cases; and
• Stage 3 – an independent panel to consider any outstanding issues. This should take 30 days to convene and hold the review panel and 5 days for the panel to issue its findings. The Council then has 15 days to respond to those findings.
12. Section 3.1.5 of the Guidance says: “Where a complaint is accepted at Stage 1, the complainant is entitled to pursue their complaint further through the procedure, except in the case of cross boundary issues. In all other instances, once a complaint has entered Stage 1, the local authority is obliged to ensure that the complaint proceeds to stage 2 and 3 of this procedure if that is the complainant’s wish.”

What happened

13. Mrs X is a family and friends foster carer to two of her grandchildren. On 20 February 2021, she complained to the Council about issues relating to both children. Her complaint took the form of questions about why the Council had taken certain actions.
14. The Council acknowledged the complaint on 22 February and stated it would provide a stage 1 response within 10 working days.
15. The Council wrote to Mrs X on 12 March. It said she had raised some of the issues previously and attached a letter it had sent her in January 2020. It said some of the other questions she had raised could be resolved through a subject access request and sent her a link to further information. In relation to the other questions, it said these would be considered by the relevant department. The letter made reference to meeting Mrs X to go through her complaints.
16. The Council met with Mrs X on 28 May but she remained dissatisfied. She asked the Council to escalate her complaint to Stage 2.
17. Mrs X received an update from the investigating manager on 2 June. He responded the same day and said he would discuss the issues with the complaints team “so [I] will be able to argue the need for a Stage 2 investigation then”.
18. Mrs X heard nothing further and so asked for an update on 2 July. She received two further holding emails shortly afterwards.
19. Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman.
20. On 5 September, Mrs X chased the Council.
21. On 30 September, over six months after accepting her complaint at Stage 1 of the statutory process, the Council provided its response. It said if Mrs X wished, she could request her complaint go to stage 2 of the statutory children’s complaints procedures.
22. During our initial enquiries, the Council said that it would go to stage 2 of the complaints procedure if Mrs X requested this.

My findings

23. The guidance for complaints considered under the statutory children’s complaints procedures state stage 1 should be completed within 10 days for straightforward cases or 20 days for more complex cases.
24. Although the Council handled some of the issues Mrs X complained about over the months after she complained, it took around six months for it to complete stage 1 of the process. This is a significant delay and is fault.
25. As a result, Mrs X was caused frustration and she was also put to time and trouble when she had to chase the Council for a response and then come to the Ombudsman when the Council again failed to provide a timely response.
26. The Council has said it will carry out a stage 2 investigation if Mrs X requests this. Mrs X has already made it clear to the Council that this is her wish. If stage 2 investigation goes ahead the Council should ensure it meets the statutory timescales to avoid further delays to Mrs X.

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Agreed actions

27. Within one month of the date of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
• apologise to Mrs X for the delays;
• pay her £180 as an acknowledgement of the six month delay in proceeding to stage 2 of the statutory procedures and the frustration and time and trouble this has caused her; and
• start stage 2 of the statutory procedures. If there are further delays, the Council has agreed to consider at either stage 2 or stage 3 of the statutory procedures whether a suitable financial payment is appropriate to remedy the injustice caused by these delays.

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Final decision

28. There was fault leading to injustice. The Council has accepted my recommendations, so I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman