Summary: The complainant (Mrs X) said the Council failed to support her when her niece (Y) was placed in her care. We find fault with the Council for refusing to consider Mrs X’s complaint through its children’s statutory complaint procedure. This caused Mrs X injustice. The Council agreed to apologise, to make a payment to recognise time and trouble when pursuing Mrs X’s complaint and to carry out the children’s statutory complaint procedure. The Council will also provide some training to its staff dealing with the Children Services complaints.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council failed to support her and her husband when her niece (Y) was placed with them, which led to the breakdown of the placement. She also says there were delays in dealing with her complaint.
2. Mrs X says the breakdown of the placement caused her significant distress as she wanted to provide home for her niece. She claims the Council’s failings had negative impact on her and her husband’s finances as they had to reduce their working hours.

Back to top

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I reviewed all the documents sent by Mrs X and by the Council.
6. I reviewed ‘Family and Friends Care: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’ and the Council’s ‘Family and Friends Care (including connected persons) Policy, the Ombudsman’s Focus Report ‘Family values: Council services to family and friends who care for others’ children’, the Council’s children’s statutory complaint procedure – information from the Council’s website.
7. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
8. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

Back to top

What I found

Legal and administrative framework

Guidance ‘Getting the best from complaint’

9. The guidance ‘Getting the best from complaints’ Social Care Complaints and Representations for Children, Young People and Others (Guidance) is based on the Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006. Only in exceptional circumstances councils can justify a variation from this document.
10. The Guidance specifies:
• which complaints should be considered under children’s statutory complaints procedure;
• who can complain;
• process and timescales for considering complaints.
11. Councils have discretion in deciding whether to consider complaints where to do so would prejudice any court proceedings.
12. If a council decides not to consider or further consider complaints subject to these concurrent investigations, they must write to the complainant explaining the reasons for their decision and specifying the relevant concurrent investigation.
13. Once the concurrent investigation has been concluded the complainant may resubmit their complaint to the council as long as it is within one year of the conclusion of the concurrent investigation.
14. The effects of the care order and the local authority’s actions and decisions where a care order is made may be the subject of a complaint considered under children’s statutory complaints procedure.

Statutory Guidance ‘Family and Friends Care

15. The range and level of family support services which may be provided under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 is wide. As well as practical support, family and friends carers may need advice, guidance or counselling about how to manage issues such as those arising from contact or from caring for children with emotional or behavioural difficulties due to their earlier experiences. The Children Act 1989 does not impose a limit on the amount of support which may be provided. (Paragraph 3.6)

Council’s policy

16. Family and friends carers must be made aware of the relevant support services and that these can be accessed by those caring for children irrespective of whether the children concerned have the legal structure of being ‘looked after’ by the Council. (Paragraph 5.10)
17. Under Section 17 [of CFA 2014], the Council will provide practical support, as well as advice, guidance or counselling, about how to manage issues such as those arising from contact or from caring for children with emotional or behavioural difficulties due to their earlier experience. Such services are provided to support both formal and information family and friends arrangements. There is no defined limit as to the amount of support that may be provided. (Paragraph 9.3)

What happened

Court orders

18. In the second week of August 2021 the Court issued an Interim Care Order for Y and her siblings. The Court placed Y in the care of the Council.
19. The Court ordered:
• an expert clinical psychologist to assess Y and provide recommendations for Y’s short-term and long-term placements and support;
• the Council to carry out a viability assessment of Mrs X.
20. A few days later the Court issued a Child Arrangement Order, confirming Y’s temporary residence with Mrs X. It also ordered the Council to:
• prepare and file by the third week in September 2021 an updated interim care plan for Y;
• file by mid-September 2021 an updated statement on the progress of looking for therapeutic placements for Y, Y’s progress over the summer in the care of Mrs X and Mrs X’s position on the placement.
21. In the third week of September 2021 the Court:
• agreed for Y to remain in the care of Mrs X and her husband;
• ordered Mrs X to file a statement by the end of the first week in October 2021 detailing any support she would benefit from and her position about contact;
• ordered the Council to file by the end of September 2021 a statement in response to the specialist therapeutic support recommended for Y and her carers and what steps it took to action this recommendation.

Key events

22. Rather than the full chronology of the events, I listed below only the facts which are relevant to determining whether Mrs X’s complaint was about the issues considered during the court proceedings.
23. Y suffers from complex trauma and other emotional as well as mental health difficulties.
24. Y came to live with her maternal aunt, Mrs X, and her husband in the middle of August 2021, following the breakdown of her previous placement.
25. Throughout September and October 2021, several times Mrs X contacted the Council asking for support and communicated her concerns about Y. She was particularly worried about:
• lack of a school placement for Y which meant that she was getting behind with her education and did not have a routine of school attendance;
• Y’s contacts with her maternal grandmother;
• lack of any respite for her own family;
26. In the mid-October 2021 the professionals’ meeting took place during which the participants discussed a support package for Y and her carers.
27. Towards the end of October 2021 Y’s behaviour escalated and Mrs X and her husband had difficulties in managing it. It eventually led to the breakdown of the placement in the first week of November 2021 and Y’s move to the emergency accommodation.

Complaint

28. Mrs X lodged her complaint with the Council in the second week of October 2021. She raised the following issues:
• absence of the wrap around package of support determined as necessary by professionals supporting Y;
• lack of school education;
• inadequate communication from the Council;
• no local point of contact who would know Y and be able to take her out; and
• no assigned social worker.
29. At the end of March, after the Ombudsman had asked for the Council’s responses to Mrs X’s complaint, the Council provided Mrs X with its final response. The Council refused to look at the issues raised within the complaint as, it said, they related to the matters which had already been considered by the Court.

Analysis

Reasons for the Council’s refusal to consider Mrs X’s complaint

30. To find out whether the Council was at fault when refusing to consider Mrs X’s complaint, there are two issues for us to explore:
• were the matters complained about the subject of the court proceedings; and if so
• did the Council follow the right process when exercising its discretion.
31. When issuing its orders the Court was dealing with:
• parental responsibility issues;
• Y’s accommodation and care – both short-term and long-term;
• contact issues.
32. Once the Court decided to place Y with Mrs X and her husband and set up some rules of contact with individual family members, it did not deal with the way the Council should be supporting Y’s family carers and Y as a child in need, and in particular did not deal with the issues of:
• allocation of social workers in the new place;
• frequency of social workers’ contact with Y and Mrs X;
• provision of relevant advice about respite;
• linking with educational and health services to support Mrs X and her husband in their role as Y’s carers;
• arranging respite.
33. I have not seen any evidence the Council examined details of Mrs X’s complaint and applied robust test to decide which parts of the complaint were not included in the court proceedings and the Council could have looked at. In such circumstances I consider this is fault.
34. There might be some parts of Mrs X’s complaint which were or should have been considered by the Court, such as family time with Y’s grandmother. If part of the complaint, these matters would need to be separated when carrying out the Council’s investigation and the test specified in paragraphs 10 to 12 of this decision would be applied to them.
35. Although at the time of Mrs X’s complaint in October 2021 the Council might have refused to look at the matters relating to the court proceedings, by the end of March 2022 Y’s circumstances changed. The Council failed to show it considered whether at the time of its final response:
• there were relevant concurrent court proceedings;
• considering Mrs X’s complaint might have prejudiced these court proceedings.

Timescales

36. In line with the information about the Council’s complaint procedure both stages of the complaint process should not take more than nine weeks, unless the complaint is very complex. The Council issued its final response after 24 weeks. A significant delay in communicating to Mrs X’s the Council’s refusal to carry out the children’s statutory complaint process is fault.

Injustice

37. The Council’s fault caused Mrs X injustice. Y’s placement with Mrs X and her husband finally broke down which caused Mrs X distress. The family committed emotional and financial resources to ensure a success of Y’s placement with them.
38. The Council’s refusal to look at Mrs X’s complaint meant the lack of resolution for Mrs X and increased her distress.

Back to top

Agreed action

39. 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 Mrs X;
• pay Mrs X £100 to acknowledge the unnecessary time and trouble caused by the Council’s refusal to consider Mrs X’s complaint;
• consider Mrs X’s complaint in accordance with its children’s statutory complaint procedure;
40. 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 criteria for applying children’s statutory complaint procedure.

Back to top

Final decision

41. I find fault with the Council’s refusal to consider Mrs X’s complaint through its children’s statutory complaint procedure. This fault caused Mrs X injustice. The Council has now accepted my recommendations for remedies and I have completed this investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman