Summary: Mrs X complained the Council refused to accept her complaint about a lack of help and support in relation to her husband Mr Y and her son, F who was a Child in Need. The Council was at fault for failing to investigate her complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The Council agreed to apologise to Mrs X and start a stage two investigation to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council refused to accept her complaint about a lack of help and support in relation to abuse she suffered from her husband and child. Mrs X said she continuously raised safeguarding concerns and asked for support, but the Council refused to help.

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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 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)
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 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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How I considered this complaint

5. I spoke to Mrs X about her complaint and considered information she provided.
6. I considered the Council’s response to my enquiry letter.
7. Mrs X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on this draft decision. I considered comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Child in Need (CIN)

8. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 says councils must safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need.
9. A child is in need if:

• they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development unless the council provides support;
• their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired unless the council provides support; or
• they are disabled.

10. When a council assesses a child as being in need, it supports them through a CIN plan. This should set clear, measurable outcomes for the child and expectations for their parent.

Statutory complaints procedure

11. 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. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
12. The Children Act 1989 provides that all functions of a council under part 3 of the Act may be the subject of a complaint. For example, a complaint may arise as a result of many things relating to a statutory social services function such as:
• unwelcome or disputed decisions;
• delay in decision making or provision of services;
• delivery or non-delivery of services; and
• concern about the quality of a service
13. The Children Act 1989 sets out who may complain using the statutory procedure and requires councils to consider representations including complaints made to it. This includes:
• any child or young person who is being looked after by the council;
• any child or young person who is classed as a CIN;
• the child or young person’s parent; and
• someone who has parental responsibility for the relevant child or young person.
14. Councils often consider complaints made by adults on behalf of children, but must also use the procedure where an eligible adult (included in the list above) complains in their own right about matters covered by the procedure.
15. Councils do not need consent from the child or young person to investigate a complaint from a person on this list. However, it may need consent from the child or young person to disclose information about them to the person making a complaint.

What happened

16. Mrs X has a son, F and a husband, Mr Y, whom she no longer lives with. Records show the Council has had Early Help involvement with the family for a number of years. Early Help refers to the support many councils give families who need low level interventions. In June 2021 the Council decided F required a CIN plan, which ended in May 2023.
17. Mrs X complained to the Council in 2023 about how its Children’s Social Services department had treated her. Mrs X said she had been subject to abuse from both F and Mr Y and despite asking the Council for help and support it had either refused or ignored her. Mrs X said the lack of support had left her suicidal and unable to cope. Records show Mrs X wanted the Council to take F into its care. The issues Mrs X complained about included:
• the Council failing to provide help and support when she reported abuse from Mr Y and F;
• not dealing with safeguarding concerns she has raised;
• refusing to help her deal with and look after F over a number of years; and
• not responding to emails or explaining its decision.
18. The Council sent Mrs X a response stating it was unable to accept her complaint. The Council acknowledged Mrs X was complaining in her own right. However, it said due to F’s age it would require consent from him before it could investigate any complaint or share information with Mrs X about the Council’s involvement with him. The Council said it was unable to assist any further and advised Mrs X to continue working with Early Help, now that F was no longer a CIN.
19. Mrs X remained unhappy and complained to us.
20. In response to my enquiry letter the Council has accepted it should have investigated the issues Mrs X raised. The Council said it will apologise to Mrs X and now investigate her complaint under its corporate complaints procedure.

My findings

21. Records show F was a CIN from June 2021 to May 2023 while he was on a CIN plan. CIN support is provided under section 3 of the Children Act as explained above. Mrs X was eligible to complain in her own right about her concerns relating to F as a parent of a CIN. Much of Mrs X’s complaint does not require F’s consent so the Council could have responded to these concerns under the statutory procedure. The Council was therefore at fault for failing to respond to Mrs X’s complaint under the statutory procedure.
22. The Council has the option of including any issues that are not automatically eligible under the statutory procedure into a statutory complaint investigation. In Mrs X’s case this includes her concerns about safeguarding, lack of support around Mr Y and child protection matters. Otherwise, the Council should use its separate corporate complaints procedure to consider them. I have included a recommendation to ensure it considers this discretion below.
23. Mrs X can complain to us again if she remains unhappy at the conclusion of the Council’s investigation.

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Agreed action

24. Within one month of the final decision the Council agreed to take the following steps:
1. Write to Mrs X and apologise for the distress and frustration caused to her when it refused to accept and investigate her complaint.
2. Begin a stage 2 investigation under the statutory children’s complaints procedure into Mrs X’s complaint. The Council should consider agreeing a statement of complaint with Mrs X and in doing so consider using its discretion around whether to investigate all of Mrs X’s concerns under the statutory procedure. If not, it should respond to the matters outside of the statutory procedure’s remit using its corporate complaints procedure.
25. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended.
26. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

27. I completed this investigation. The Council was at fault and it agreed to my recommendations to remedy the injustice caused by the fault.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman