Summary: We uphold Ms X’s complaint the Council has failed to reply to her complaint within its Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure. The Council has now agreed to do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, says the Council has failed to comply with its Children Act statutory complaints’ 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 Ms X 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.

What happened

10. Ms X complained to the Council in May 2022 about a failure to properly assess for a child in need or a parent’s carers assessment under the Children Act, plus related matters. The Council replied later that month. Ms X requested an escalation to stage two of the complaints’ procedure in June 2022. The Council replied in October 2022. Ms X says she requested a stage three hearing in November 2022 but has had no response.
11. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because the stage three review panel has not been held within the code’s timescales.

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Agreed action

12. The Council has agreed to:
• Complete a Children Act statutory stage three within the guidelines and notify her of her rights under the process.
• Pay Ms X £150 for the delay in the complaint’s response so far.

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Final decision

13. I uphold this complaint as the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Ms X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman