Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed considering a complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has now agreed to resolve the complaint by issuing its stage two response without delay and offering to make a payment to the complainant to remedy the time and trouble they have been too.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Ms X, complains about how the Council dealt with her request for a Child in Need assessment and a parents carer assessment. We previously found the Council at fault for not considering her complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure, and it agreed to do so. Ms X now complains that the Council has delayed issuing its response to her complaint at stage two of this 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 complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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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. The statutory guidance says that If a complaint has entered stage one the local authority is obliged to ensure the complaint proceeds to stages two and three if the complaint requests this.

What happened

11. We previously found the Council to be at fault for not considering Ms X’s complaint under the statutory procedure. The Council agreed that it would issue a stage two response and subsequently agreed a statement of complaint with Ms X in September, with additional issues being added in October.
12. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman when she did not receive a stage two response from the Council. The Council has said that the investigation was completed on time but accepted there had been a delay in issuing its stage two response.

Assessment

13. If we were to investigate this complaint, it is likely we would find the Council at fault, causing Ms X an injustice. This is because the Council has delayed considering her complaint at stage two of the statutory procedure, meaning Ms X has not received the answers to the questions raised in her complaint.
14. The Council expects to issue its stage two response within two weeks. We have asked the Council to apologise to Ms X for the delay and offer to make a payment to her of £100 to remedy the time and trouble she has been too pursuing her complaint.
15. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and has agreed with our recommendation. Write to Ms X with its stage two response, apologise and offer to make a payment to her of £100.

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Final decision

16. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing an appropriate remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman