Oxfordshire County Council (22 010 697)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: I uphold this complaint because the Council was at fault in delaying its response under the statutory process for complaints about children’s services. The Council has agreed to resolve the matter by providing a suitable remedy for the injustice the complainant has been caused.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs B, complains that the Council has failed to respond to her complaint about its handling of a child protection matter.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- Under our information sharing agreement, we will share the final decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- The complainant now has an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I will consider their comments before making a final decision.
My assessment
- If we were to investigate this complaint, it is likely we would find fault causing injustice. This is because the Council has failed to escalate the complaint and respond within the required timescale, thereby delaying resolution of the matter and causing Mrs B to have to complain twice.
Agreed action
- We asked the Council to resolve the complaint by:
- within one month of this decision, appointing an investigating officer and beginning Stage 2 of the statutory procedure, providing Mrs B with information about her rights under the process; and
- offering to make a payment of £500 to Mrs B to reflect the injustice caused by the failure to escalate her complaint.
- To its credit, the Council has agreed to take the action we proposed.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by providing a proportionate remedy to the injustice caused to Mrs B.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman