Summary: Ms X complained to the Council about disability discrimination in dealing with her over an assessment of her daughter’s social care needs. She complained to the Ombudsman that the Council refused to progress her complaint to the second stage of the complaints process but instead told her to make a legal claim. The Council has now decided to investigate the complaint at stage 2 of the children’s social care complaints procedure. We have therefore decided to stop investigating the complaint as it would not achieve any more for Ms X at this stage. Once she has completed the complaints process she may make another complaint to the Ombudsman if she is not happy with the outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council has failed to deal properly with her complaint about disability discrimination. She complained to the Council that it failed to make reasonable adjustments in dealing with her over an assessment of her daughter’s social care needs. She says instead of allowing her to take the complaint all the way through the complaints process, the Council advised her to get legal representation and make a claim against the Council. She says this has delayed the assessment of her daughter’s needs, and therefore access to services, and had an impact on her mental and physical wellbeing.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I discussed the complaint with Ms X and considered the information she provided. I considered information the Council provided about the history of the complaint. Ms X and the Council l had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Statutory children’s social care complaints procedure

4. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The Council appoints an Independent Investigating Officer to investigate and an Independent Person to oversee the investigation at stage 2. If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome they can ask to take the complaint to a stage 3 Review Panel.

Reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities

5. The reasonable adjustment duty is set out in the Equality Act 2010 and applies to any body which carries out a public function. It aims to make sure that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to non-disabled people.
6. Service providers are under a positive and proactive duty to take steps to remove or prevent obstacles to accessing their service. If the adjustments are reasonable, they must be made.

What happened

7. Ms X has been diagnosed with several medical conditions, some of which are anxiety-related. Her daughter, D, has autism and a severe communication disorder. Ms X says D needs 24-hour care.
8. In 2020 the Council started an assessment of D’s needs. Ms X asked the Council to make adjustments in its dealings with her during the assessment, to take account of her disabilities. These included providing information to her in advance of meetings and allowing her to make audio recordings of conversations with Council officers.
9. In March 2021 Ms X made a complaint to the Council headed ‘complaint under the Equality Act 2010 regarding children’s social care’. She complained that the Council had failed to make reasonable adjustments for her and ignored her needs.
10. The Council replied in late May upholding her complaint and confirming the Council had failed in several areas during the assessment process. It apologised and said the Council would put the reasonable adjustments in place as requested and ensure it learned from the complaint.
11. Ms X responded as she felt the Council had not provided an adequate remedy for the emotional impact of what had happened. Nor had it addressed the lack of access to services resulting from the incomplete assessment. There was further correspondence during June when the Council said it had considered her complaint through the statutory children’s social care complaints procedure but as she was looking for a large amount of compensation she would need to engage a legal representative to make a claim to the Council’s insurance team.
12. Ms X disputed this, saying the Council should progress her complaint through the complaints procedure.
13. In August Ms X made a further complaint to the Council about further discrimination in an independent social work assessment that the Council had agreed to carry out. Ms X also asked for this complaint to be escalated to stage 2 of the children’s social care complaints procedure.
14. In November Ms X complained to the Ombudsman saying the Council had blocked her attempts to get her original complaint of March 2021 considered at stage 2 of the statutory procedure. She said she had suffered discrimination form December 2020 to March 2021 and her daughter had been denied access to services as a result.
15. In response to initial enquiries from the Ombudsman, the Council confirmed it was considering the second complaint at stage 2 and that the statement of complaint said the complaint should be read in conjunction with a ‘prior connected complaint’ made in March 2021. This meant the stage 2 investigation would cover both complaints. The Council said the Investigating Officer would be issuing the investigation report soon.

My view

16. Given that the stage 2 investigation is nearing its conclusion and appears to cover the complaint Ms X has brought to the Ombudsman, I do not consider there is anything useful to be gained by investigating Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s complaint-handling now. Even if we were to find fault, one of the likely outcomes would be to ask the Council to progress the complaint to stage 2 of the procedure. It has already done this. In my view the best way forward would be not to pursue the complaint further at this stage. If Ms X is not happy with the outcome of the complaint once it has completed the complaints process, she may contact the Ombudsman again. If the final decision does not deal with the issue of the Council’s complaint-handling, it would be open to Ms X to include the matter in her complaint to the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

17. I have decided to stop investigating Ms X’s complaint now that the Council is dealing with it. Ms X may come back to the Ombudsman if she is not happy with the final outcome once the Council has completed the complaints process.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman