Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed consideration of a complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has now agreed to resolve the complaint by providing an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused to the complainant by its delay.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Miss X, complains about the actions of the Council’s children’s services in relation to contact arrangements with her son. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman when the Council suspended its investigation due to legal proceedings.

Back to top

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).

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

The statutory complaints 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.
10. Councils can only vary from the statutory complaints procedure in exceptional circumstances. Regulation 8 of The Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006 says councils can refuse to consider a complaint if to do so could prejudice concurrent court proceedings. However, after the proceedings have ended, a complainant can resubmit the complaint for the council to consider.

What happened

11. Miss X complained to the Council about its children’s services and their involvement with contact arrangements between Miss X and her son. In June 2021, Miss X asked the Council to progress her complaint to stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
12. The investigator completed a draft version of their investigation report which they shared with Miss X, who shared the report with the Family Court prior to proceedings which would consider the care arrangements of the children. The Council made the decision to suspend its complaints investigation under Regulation 8. These proceedings have now concluded, and the Council have said it will now issue Miss X with a formal stage two complaint response.
13. If we investigated this complaint, it is unlikely we would find fault with the Council’s decision to suspend its investigation into Miss X’s complaint. This is because it believed investigating would prejudice the proceedings in the Family Court and has now agreed to complete its investigation now these proceedings have ended.
14. However, investigation is likely to find the Council at fault because it failed to complete its stage two investigation into Miss X’s complaint within the statutory timeframes. This has caused a significant delay of in Miss X receiving answers to the questions she raised.
15. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice this caused Mis X by offering to make a payment to Miss X of £300 to remedy the time and trouble she has been too pursuing her complaint and to reflect the significant delay in providing her with a stage two response.
16. Whilst the Council does not agree that it is responsible for all the delay, to its credit, it has agreed to offer to make the payment to Miss X within one month of the date of this decision.

Back to top

Final decision

17. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman