Summary: Ms X complained the Council’s children’s services harassed her around the time of her child’s birth and forced her to attend a meeting she was not well enough to attend. She says this caused her significant distress. She also said there were inaccuracies in a professional report. I have ended our investigation into this complaint. The Council has not completed all three stages of the children’s statutory complaints procedure and the complaint does not meet the criteria for an early referral to us. The Council has agreed to re-make its offer of a stage 3 panel to Ms X.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council’s children’s services harassed her around the time of her child’s birth and forced her to attend a meeting she was not well enough to attend. She says this caused significant distress. She also said there were inaccuracies in a professional report. The Council investigated her complaint under stages one and two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure and partially upheld some of her complaint. Ms X does not want to proceed to stage three of the statutory procedure but wants the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint,
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read Ms X’s complaint and spoke with her about it on the phone.
4. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
5. I considered the Children’s statutory complaint procedure statutory guidance Children's social care: getting the best from complaints.
6. Ms X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background information

The children’s statutory complaints procedure

7. There is a formal procedure, set out in law, which council must follow to investigate certain types of complaints. It involves three stages:
• Stage 1 - Local resolution by the Council.
• Stage 2 – an investigation by an independent investigator who will prepare a detailed report and findings. The investigation is overseen by an independent person to ensure its impartiality. The Council then issues an adjudication letter which sets out its response to the findings.
• Stage 3 – an independent panel to consider their outstanding issues.

Early referral to the Ombudsman

8. Councils should progress a complaint through at all three stages of the procedure, if this is the complainant’s wish. However, if the council is in agreement and certain conditions are met, a complainant can bring their complaint to us after Stage 2. This is known as an early referral. The conditions include that the Stage 2 investigation must have delivered:
• A very robust report;
• A complete adjudication;
• An outcome where all complaints have been upheld (or all significant complaints relating to service delivery).
9. We will consider the individual circumstances and whether the referral meets the conditions set out in the statutory guidance, before deciding whether to accept the complaint.

What happened

10. Ms X complained to the Council in 2018. She said the Council’s children’s services harassed her around the time of her child’s birth and forced her to attend a meeting she was not well enough to attend. She also said there were inaccuracies in a professional report. The Council accepted her complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure and provided a stage 1 response in November 2018. It did not uphold her complaints but apologised for any distress caused by the involvement of its children’s social care service.
11. Ms X was dissatisfied with the response and, in December 2018, asked the Council to escalate her complaint to Stage 2.
12. The Council met with Ms X in June 2019. It discussed the complaint with her and why she remained dissatisfied. Ms X confirmed she wanted to progress the complaint to Stage 2.
13. The Council appointed an independent investigator to complete the investigation and an independent person to oversee it. They met with Ms X in September 2019 and confirmed the statement of complaint. They completed their investigation in October 2019.
14. The Council wrote to Ms X in November 2019. It partially upheld two of her complaints but did not uphold two others. It apologised to her for any distress the meeting caused. It also apologised for factual inaccuracies in the report and said it would ensure these were corrected. However, it said it could not change professional opinion. It said it would emphasise to staff the importance of being accurate in reports and of ensuring parents feel prepared and supported when engaging with children’s services.
15. Ms X remained dissatisfied and in December 2019, she told the Council she wanted to progress her complaint to Stage 3.
16. The Council accepted this and contacted her in January 2020 to make arrangements. It offered her several dates for the Stage 3 review panel in March and April. The panel date was agreed for the end of April.
17. In March 2020, the Council suspended all Stage 3 panels due to COVID-19. It wrote to her saying the panel was on hold and it would be in touch once these had resumed.
18. In March 2021, the Council wrote to her again. It said panels had been on hold for the past year due to COVID-19, but it could now offer her a virtual panel. It asked her to get in touch if she wanted to proceed.
19. Between March and August 2021, the Council made appropriate efforts to try and arrange the Stage 3 panel. However due to ill health and other issues, the Stage 3 panel did not go ahead.
20. In August 2021, Ms X told the Council she was considering making an early referral to us. The Council supported this and said it agreed that, for several reasons, a Stage 3 panel was not the best option for her.
21. Ms X brought her complaint to us in October 2021. She told us a Stage 3 Panel would cause her distress and have a negative impact on her health. She said she wanted an independent investigation of her complaint.

Consideration

22. The criteria for making an early referral to us is clearly set out in the statutory guidance. I have considered the Stage 2 reports and consider them to be sufficiently robust and complete. However, the investigation did not uphold all of Ms X’s complaints. This does not meet the conditions required for us to accept an early referral.
23. The appropriate course of action is for Ms X to complete the statutory process. The Council made appropriate efforts to arrange the Stage 3 panel prior to August 2021 but this did not happen for several reasons. The Council has now agreed to re-make the offer of a Stage 3 panel to Ms X. It is for Ms X to decide whether she accepts this offer. If Ms X remains dissatisfied once the Council has completed all three stages of the statutory complaints process, she can bring the complaint to the Ombudsman again.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman