Summary: We uphold Miss X’s complaint, as the Council delayed considering a complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to complete its stage three investigation without further delay and make a payment for the delay so far.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I will call Miss X, complains about the actions of the Council’s children services team.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share the final decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
6. I considered Miss X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

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My assessment

The statutory complaints procedure

7. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, Getting the Best from Complaints, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail.
8. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
9. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two. At this stage of the procedure, councils appoint an investigator and an independent person who is responsible for overseeing the investigation. Councils have up to 13 weeks to complete stage two of the process from the date of request.
10. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage two investigation, they can ask for a stage three review by an independent panel. The Council must hold the panel within 30 days of the date of request, and then issue a final response within 20 days of the panel hearing.

What happened

11. Miss X complained to the Council in February 2021 about the actions of the children services’ team. The Council considered the complaint under stage one of the statutory complaints’ procedure and issued its response in mid March 2021.
12. The next day, Miss X asked the Council in writing to progress the complaint to stage two of the process. The Council should have completed this stage within no later than 13 weeks. The Council issued a stage two report in mid July 2021, but it seems did not complete the stage two until the beginning of September 2021 when it emailed Miss X with its comments on the investigating officer’s report. This is a delay of three months.
13. The Council told Miss X ten days later that she could ask for a stage three review panel hearing or request an early referral to us. The grounds for an early referral are not met. All the complaints have not been upheld and there is not a complete adjudication.
14. The Council’s failure to meet statutory timeframes is fault which has caused Miss X some time and trouble.

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Agreed action

15. The Council has agreed to within 30 working days of my final decision:
• Convene a stage three review panel and thereafter issue the findings and response within the statutory timescales.
• To pay Miss X of £100 to remedy the time and trouble she has gone to pursuing the complaint and to reflect the three month delay in the Council dealing with her complaint.

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Final decision

16. I intend uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman