Summary: The Council is at fault for delaying considering a complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. However, it has now completed its stage two investigation and written to the complainants to inform them of the outcome. It has also apologised, and offered to make a payment to remedy the delay.

The complaint

1. The complainants, who I will call Mr & Mrs X, complained that the Council failed to provide them with a response to their complaint at stage two of the statutory complaints procedure.

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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 the complainants and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

The statutory complains procedure

6. 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.
7. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
8. 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.
9. 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

10. In June 2021, the Ombudsman issued a final decision on a complaint from Mr & Mrs X. The decision included an agreement that the Council would undertake a stage two investigation, adhering to the statutory complaints timeframes.
11. After no progress had been made Mr and Mrs X contacted the Ombudsman. We contacted the Council and it accepted there had been delays completing the stage two investigation, but during the consideration of the complaint it issued a stage two response to Mr & Mrs X.

Analysis

12. The Council should have completed a stage two investigation a maximum of 13 weeks. It did not and this is fault. However, it has now provided Mr & Mrs X with a response and advised them that they can request the complaint be progressed to stage three of the process if they remain dissatisfied. It has also apologised to Mr & Mrs X and offered to make a payment in recognition of the delays. I consider this to be a suitable remedy and for this reason I do not propose to make any further recommendations.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman