Summary: Ms X complained the Council has refused to investigate her complaints about how it dealt with her when her children were on a child protection plan. We find the Council at fault for failing to consider its discretion when deciding the complaint was out of time. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X, review its decision and act to prevent reoccurrence.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council had refused to investigate her complaints about how it dealt with her when her children were on a child protection plan.
2. She says this has prevented her and her children from getting the answers they need to move on with their lives.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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)
5. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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What I have and have not investigated

6. I have investigated how the Council has dealt with Ms X’s complaint. I have not investigated Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her children. The Council is best placed to investigate these issues using its statutory complaints process. Ms X can come back to us at the conclusion of that process is she is still dissatisfied with the outcome.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I have considered:
• The information provided by Mrs X and discussed the complaint with her;
• The Council’s comments on the complaint and the supporting information it provided; and
• Relevant law and guidance.
8. Ms X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

9. 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.
10. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. Councils can refuse to consider a complaint if a complainant says they intend to take legal action or if investigating a complaint could prejudice concurrent court proceedings. However, after the proceedings have ended, a complainant can resubmit the complaint for the council to consider.
14. The law states that complaints should be raised within one year of the issue arising. It allows councils to consider complaints raised outside of this time frame when it would not be reasonable to have expected the person to complain in the one year time frame and it is still possible to investigate the complaint.
15. The Ombudsman published a focus report in 2015 highlighting common failings in the way councils deal with complaints that are within the remit of the children’s statutory procedure. In 2021 further guidance for practitioners was issued setting out our expectations on how statutory complaints should be handled and managed.

Key events

16. The Council removed Ms X’s children from her care in December 2020. By December 2021 the Council had returned both children to Ms X. Its involvement ended in May 2023.
17. Ms X says one of her children became ill when they were in the Council’s care. She says she tried to raise complaints about how the Council handled the illness. She says she spoke directly with the social workers during their involvement, but they told her to wait until the Council’s involvement concluded.
18. In early May 2023 Ms X raised a complaint to the Council, which covered concerns she had from December 2020 onwards. The Council stated that most of the complaints related to issues between December 2020 and December 2021 or were closely linked to issues which occurred during this time. It also noted that she could have raised her complaints about the judicial proceedings in Court.
19. It decided not to investigate Ms X’s complaint because she had not made it within one year of the issues arising.
20. The Council’s response also noted the timeframe can be extended. It said this would occur if it was not reasonable to expect the person to have complained in the time limit and if it was still possible to consider the complaint. It did not discuss this any further.

Findings

21. Ms X raised her complaint in 2023 and was complaining about issues that occurred in 2020 and 2021. These would be out of time unless discretion applied. The Council identified the 12-month timeframe, and that it can apply discretion to extend this. However, it did not include any explanation as to whether Ms X could have complained sooner, and why, when ruling her complaint out of time. The Council has not considered whether its discretion should apply to Ms X’s complaint, and this is fault.
22. Ms X and her family are frustrated that they remain without answers to issues that had a huge impact on their lives because of the Council’s actions.

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Agreed action

23. Within one month of the final decision the Council will:
• Apologise to Ms X for its failure to consider whether discretion should apply to her complaint.
• Review Ms X’s complaint and consider whether discretion should apply. Begin a statutory investigation into complaints she raised within 12 months and any complaints that the Council applies discretion to.
• Remind complaint handling staff of the importance of considering discretion if they conclude a complaint is outside time limits.
24. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

25. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault leading to injustice. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice and prevent reoccurrence.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman