Summary: The complainant (Miss X) said the Council failed to communicate with her effectively about her children who are in care and delayed considering her complaint. We find fault with the Council for not considering Miss X’s complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. This caused delay and injustice to Miss X. We recommend for the Council to consider Miss X’s complaint under the statutory complaints process, make a payment to recognise Miss X’s distress and provide training for the Children Services staff.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about poor communication from the social workers in the Council’s Children Services team. She says the Council failed to provide her in a timely manner with important information about her children. This caused her distress.
2. Miss X also complains about the delays with the Council’s complaint handling.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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

5. I spoke to Miss X and reviewed all the documents sent by her and by the Council.
6. I reviewed the Council’s ‘Children’s representations and complaints policy’ and the Ombudsman’s Guide for Practitioners ‘Children’s statutory complaints process’.
7. Miss X and the Council 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

Children’s statutory complaints procedure

8. The statutory guidance ‘Getting the best from complaints’ specifies:
• which complaints should be considered under children’s statutory complaints procedure;
• who can complain;
• process and timescales for considering complaints.
9. Councils should attempt to resolve complaints and address representations as soon as reasonably practicable and within specific timescales:
• 10 days at stage one (with a further 10 days for more complex complaints or additional time if an advocate is required);
• 25 days at stage two (with maximum extension to 65 days);
• 30 days to convene and hold the Review Panel at stage three;
• 5 days for the Panel to issue its findings; and
• 15 days for the council to respond to the findings.
10. The stage one of the procedure is a local resolution.
11. At stage two of this procedure, the Council appoints an Investigating Officer and an Independent Person (who is responsible for overseeing the investigation).
12. The Independent Officer may be employed by the council or be appointed specifically for carrying out the stage two investigation. They should not, however, be in direct line management of the service or person about whom the complaint is being made.
13. On completion of the stage two investigation the Independent Officer will write a report including:
• details of findings, conclusions and outcomes against each point of complaint;
• recommendations on how to remedy any injustice to the complainant.
14. A council’s senior manager, acting as an Adjudicating Officer, should then consider the complaints, the Independent Officer’s findings, conclusions, recommendations and the complainant’s desired outcomes as well as any report form the Independent Person.
15. If a complainant is unhappy with the result of the stage two investigation, within 20 days they can ask for a stage three review.
16. At stage three the Review Panel, consisting of three independent people, should not reinvestigate complaints but:
• consider the adequacy of the stage two investigation;
• obtain any further information and advice considered necessary;
• reach findings on each of the complaints;
• make recommendations, providing practical remedies and creative solutions;
• support local solutions where appropriate;
• recommend any service improvements required.
17. If a council has investigated something under this procedure, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it unless he considers that investigation was flawed. However, we may look at whether a council properly considered the findings and recommendations of the independent investigation.

What happened

Background

18. Three of Miss X’s children are in care with her having parental responsibility for them. The youngest, fourth child (Z) is looked after by the Council and in the process of being adopted.
19. Miss X has regular, supervised contact with her children. Once the adoption process is complete, she will lose contact with Z.
20. In January 2022 Miss X’s daughter had an operation. The Council asked Miss X for her consent only two days before. Miss X went to the hospital to stay with her daughter but consequently missed a contact session with Z, scheduled for the same day.

Stage one complaint

21. Miss X complained in the third week of January 2022. She said a new Social Worker failed to introduce himself and did not communicate with Miss X about her children.
22. In the second week of March 2022 Miss X contacted the Council again about her complaint. The next day the Service Manager recognised the Council’s failure to communicate timely and effectively with Miss X about her children and undertook improvements in this area.
23. Not satisfied with the Council’s actions, Miss X escalated her complaint to the Ombudsman.

Stage two complaint

24. In the beginning of April 2022 the Head of Service provided the stage two response, admitting the Council’s failures and making commitments for improvements. To make up for the missed contact session with Z in January 2022, Miss X was told she would have some extra time with him added to the future contact sessions.
25. Recognising the Council’s failures to communicate with Miss X effectively, the Head of Service assured Miss X her children’s Social Worker would contact her the following Monday and from then on the communication would be more regular.

Implementation of the Council’s remedies

26. The Council provided evidence that a few of Miss X’s contact sessions with Z in June 2022 were extended to make up for the missed session.
27. There is nothing in the documents received from the Council to suggest, however, the Social Worker talked to Miss X on the day named in the Council’s stage two response.
28. Moreover from the chronology of the Council’s contact with Miss X it seems since the stage two response the pattern of communication from the Social Worker has not noticeably improved. There was, in particular, a gap in communication between the first week of April 2022 and the end of May 2022.

Analysis

29. The Council has a statutory duty to consider complaints about actions relating to children in need and looked after children under the children’s statutory complaints process.
30. Miss X complained about the matters for which the children’s statutory complaint procedure should have been applied. This would give the opportunity for an independent person to investigate Miss X’s complaint. The Council should also have handled Miss X’s complaint within the specific timescales.
31. The Council is at fault for dealing with Miss X’s complaint through its corporate rather than the statutory children’s complaints process. In view of still unresolved issues, it should take action to consider the complaint through the statutory complaints procedure and to recognise the unnecessary frustration, time and trouble Miss X was put to as a result of going through the wrong complaints process.
32. As the Council has a duty to investigate complaints about children services under this procedure, it cannot expect complainants to complain to the Ombudsman instead of exercising their right to an independent stage two and stage three investigation.
33. Once the Council carries out the statutory children’s complaint procedure and if Miss X remains unhappy, she can file a new complaint to the Ombudsman. We would, however, limit our investigation to find out if the Council:
• correctly carried out the statutory complaint procedure;
• considered an independent investigator’s findings;
• considered an independent investigator’s recommendations.

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Agreed action

34. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, we recommend the Council within four weeks of my final decision complete the following:
• Send a written apology to Miss X;
• Start a stage two investigation under the children’s statutory complaints procedure, considering responses from March 2022 and April 2022 as the Council’s response at stage one;
• Pay Miss X £100 to acknowledge the unnecessary frustration, caused by the failing to consider her complaint under the statutory children’s complaint procedure and extra time and trouble necessary to pursue her complaint.
35. We also recommend the Council within three months of the final decision provide its staff dealing with the Children’s Services complaints with the training on the statutory children’s complaint procedure. The Council will send us a signed statement from the relevant members of staff they have reviewed the Council’s ‘Children’s representations and complaints policy’.

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Final decision

36. I have completed my investigation and uphold Miss X’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice to Miss X. The Council agreed to carry out my recommendations which will remedy this injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman