Summary: Mr X complains the Council failed to deliver on its promise to pay him £100 when contact with his grandson was cancelled without any notice. The Council has agreed to honour its promise and also make a payment to recognise Mr X’s unnecessary time, trouble and frustration.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complains the Council did not give him any notice when it cancelled a contact session with his grandson. Mr X says he incurred financial loss by missing a day of work. The Council said it would pay him £100 for the financial loss but he has not received this payment.

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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. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered Mr X’s complaint and the information he provided.
5. I considered the information the Council sent to me in response to my enquiries.
6. Mr X and the Council were given the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision. I considered Mr X’s and the Council’s comments before making this final decision.

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What I found

7. Mr X’s grandson, Y, is a Looked After Child (LAC) by the local authority.
8. In 2019, the Council arranged a contact session for Mr X with Y. Mr X took the day off work to attend the contact session. The session was cancelled but the Council failed to notify Mr X. He was made aware it was cancelled when he arrived at the contact centre for the session. The Council recognised it failed to contact him prior to the session to notify him and it provided him with a payment of £100 to cover his loss of earnings for the day.
9. In March 2020, Mr X arrived at the contact centre for contact with Y to be notified it was cancelled. Mr X complained to the Council about its failure to advise him the session was cancelled again. Mr X said he had lost a day of earnings as he had cancelled work for the contact session.
10. The Council advised Mr X on 19 March 2021, a year later, that it would provide him with a payment as a gesture of goodwill for the financial loss he incurred in March 2020.
11. Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman because the Council has failed to provide him with this payment.

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Analysis

12. The Council provided Mr X with a schedule of dates for the contact sessions which enabled him to arrange his work around the sessions. It is acknowledged that contact can be cancelled at short notice due to the wishes and feelings of the child changing, however, this could have been communicated to Mr X before the session. In its response to my enquiries, the Council says it acknowledges how frustrating this must have been for Mr X.
13. The Council had paid Mr X £100 in 2019 for the financial loss he suffered as a result of contact being cancelled. This raised Mr X’s expectations and when the same incident happened again in 2020, he expected the Council to make a payment to him again.
14. Mr X has provided evidence of the Council’s promise to provide him with ‘a goodwill monetary gesture’ because of the financial loss he incurred in March 2020. The Council has not provided me with any evidence it has made a payment to Mr X.
15. I welcome the Council’s acknowledgement of fault and its offer to pay Mr X £150. However, I do not consider the offer reflects the length of time Mr X has been pursuing this complaint, the frustration and the inconvenience of bringing his complaint to the Ombudsman. Had the Council delivered on its promise in a timely manner, Mr X would not have had to pursue this complaint.
16. The Council agreed to the recommendations I made to remedy the injustice to Mr X.

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Agreed action

17. Within four weeks of this final decision, the Council has agreed to pay Mr X:
• £100 it promised to pay him in March 2021; and
• £150 for the time and trouble he has been put to in pursuing this complaint over the past two years and the frustration caused by the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

18. There is fault by the Council and it has agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice to Mr X. Therefore, I have completed my investigation and closed this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman