Summary: In another complaint the Council significantly delayed complying with our recommendation to hold a stage three review panel. We were concerned about the Council’s processes as it told us there had been no requests for stage three of the children’s statutory complaint in the last twelve months. We did not find fault with the Council, as in the last twelve months the Council considered many complaints under the children’s statutory complaint procedure and when sending adjudication letters at stage two the Council told the complainants they could ask for a review panel.

The complaint

1. We decided to investigate the way the Council had been complying with its duties to offer stage three under the children’s statutory complaint procedure. Our concern was triggered by the significant delay in arranging an independent review panel for a complainant (Ms X), even after we had made our recommendations in Ms X’s complaint 21012425.

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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. We may investigate matters coming to our attention during an investigation, if we consider that a member of the public who has not complained may have suffered an injustice as a result. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26D and 34E, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information and documents provided by the Council.
5. The Council 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

Legal and administrative framework

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.
• The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
• 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.
• If a complainant is unhappy with the result 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

7. At the end of November 2022 we issued a decision in the complaint 21012425 where we found fault in the way the Council had dealt with Ms X’s complaint. We asked the Council to complete stage three under the children’s statutory complaint procedure within a month.
8. At the end of December Ms X told us she had not heard from the Council. The Council agreed it had difficulties in appointing a review panel. In a complaint 23010947 about the Council’s failure to comply with our recommendations by carrying out stage three of the children’s statutory complaint procedure for Ms X we found fault and told the Council to complete this stage within four weeks.
9. In view of the Council’s difficulties in arranging an independent review panel, using our Section 26D powers I decided to investigate whether the Council:
• had been complying with its duties when considering complaints about children’s services, and
• whether it had been advising the complainants on their right to ask for their complaint to be reviewed at stage three by an independent panel.
10. In response to my enquiries the Council provided evidence that between January and December 2023:
• It had 145 complaints about its children’s services;
• 45 out of 145 were considered under the children’s statutory complaint procedure;
• Eight of the children’s statutory complaints went to stage two.
11. The Council provided me with the adjudication letters ending stage two of the statutory children’s complaint procedure and its stage two corporate complaint response for the period from July until December 2023. The adjudication letters included advice on the right to ask for a review by an independent panel. The stage two corporate complaint response included our contact details in case the complainant remained dissatisfied.

Conclusions

12. Having reviewed the evidence got from the Council I cannot find anything which would suggest the Council had been preventing complainants from using the children’s statutory complaint procedure or from accessing further stages of the complaint process. In its stage two correspondence the Council told the complainants what they could do if they remained unhappy with the result of their complaints.
13. I have not seen any evidence of the fault in the Council’s general approach to dealing with complaints about the children’s services.

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Final decision

14. I did not find fault in the way the Council had carried out its duties under the children’s statutory complaint procedure. This investigation is now at an end.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman