Summary: Mrs X complained the Council did not properly complete a social care assessment with her child, Y. The Council was at fault for failing to investigate Mrs X’s complaint at stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to carry out a stage two investigation of Mrs X’s complaint. It will also apologise to Mrs X and give her a symbolic payment for the distress and frustration caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council did not properly complete a social care assessment with her child, Y, despite being ordered to do so by the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal following an appeal. Mrs X said it has negatively affected Y’s learning and social development. She also said it caused her distress. She wants the Council to acknowledge its faults, apologise to her, complete a thorough assessment with Y and give her a financial remedy.

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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. 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)
4. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I spoke with Mrs X and considered information she provided.
6. I considered information the Council provided.
7. Mrs X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft version of this decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Statutory children’s complaints procedure

8. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. This is called the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail.
9. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
10. 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 (65 working days) to complete stage two of the process from the date of request.
11. 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.

What happened

12. Mrs X’s child, Y, has special educational needs and mental and physical disabilities.
13. Following an appeal in November 2021, the SEND Tribunal issued an order to the Council which included that it had to complete a social care assessment with Y to determine if they were eligible for support under the Council’s Children with Disabilities Team.
14. During some time in 2022, the Council completed a social care assessment with Y. The assessment determined Y was not eligible for support under the Council’s Children with Disabilities Team.
15. In mid-August 2022, Mrs X complained to the Council about the social care assessment. She said:
• the Social Worker who completed the assessment only met with Y twice; and
• the assessment contained inaccurate information.

Mrs X said as a result, the assessment was incomplete.

16. Towards the end of August 2022, the Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint at stage one of the statutory children’s complaints procedure. It offered to meet with Mrs X face-to-face or via video call to consider the inaccuracies in the assessment she complained of and any amendments if required. Mrs X told us she accepted the Council’s offer to meet via video call but the meeting never went ahead.
17. Towards the end of September 2022, Mrs X requested the Council to escalate her complaint to stage two of the statutory complaints procedure. At the beginning of October 2022, the Council responded to Mrs X and acknowledged her request. It said it would forward her complaint to its complaints team for children’s services.
18. Mrs X complained to us in February 2023 as she remained unhappy.
19. As part of my investigation, I asked the Council to confirm if it had investigated Mrs X’s complaint under the statutory complaints procedure and if it had completed a stage two investigation as Mrs X requested.
20. The Council said it had considered Mrs X’s complaint at stage one of the statutory complaints procedure. It claimed it had no record Mrs X had requested a stage two investigation.

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Findings

21. The statutory children’s complaints procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns. Because of this, we do not normally investigate the substantive matter someone complains to us about if their complaint has not completed the statutory procedure, as in this case. I have therefore not investigated Mrs X’s concerns about the social care assessment.
22. The Council investigated Mrs X’s complaint at stage one under the statutory complaints procedure. The evidence shows Mrs X requested the Council to consider her complaint at stage two. The Council did not investigate her complaint further. This was fault and not in line with guidance.
23. As Mrs X requested the Council to escalate her complaint to stage two at the end of September 2022, the Council should have carried out a stage two investigation and completed it by the end of December 2022, to meet timescales within guidance.
24. The Council’s failure to investigate Mrs X’s complaint further caused her distress and frustration. I have made a recommendation of a symbolic payment to recognise this. This reflects the period between the end of December 2022, when the Council should have completed its stage two investigation and February 2023, when Mrs X brought her complaint to us.

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Agreed action

25. Within one month of the final decision, the Council has agreed it will:
• start a stage two investigation into Mrs X’s complaint. It will complete the investigation within 65 working days;
• apologise to Mrs X for the distress and frustration caused by not investigating her complaint further; and
• pay Mrs X a symbolic payment of £100 to acknowledge the distress and frustration the delay caused.
26. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

27. I have now completed my investigation. The Council was at fault. It has agreed to action the recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman