Summary: We opened this complaint after the Council failed to complete the agreed remedy from a previous Ombudsman investigation, which considered its failure to respond to a complaint from Mrs X about its children’s services. The Council was at fault for failing to comply with the remedy and failing to reply to Mrs X’s complaint. The faults caused Mrs X avoidable frustration. To remedy that injustice, the Council will apologise to Mrs X and pay her £225. It will also complete the stage one response to Mrs X’s complaint and review why it has continued to delay responding.

The complaint

1. We opened this complaint after the Council failed to complete the agreed remedy from a previous Ombudsman investigation, which considered its failure to respond to a complaint about its children’s services.

Back to top

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.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered:
• our previous investigation,
• the information Mrs X provided and I discussed the complaint with her;
• the Council’s comments about the complaint; and
• the relevant law and guidance and the Ombudsman's guidance on remedies.
6. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Relevant law and guidance

7. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. We call this the children’s statutory complaints procedure. 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.
8. The Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006 specify how the procedure should be carried out. It has three stages.
• The first stage of the procedure is local resolution.
• 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 investigating officer (IO) to investigate the complaint. They also appoint an independent person (IP), who is responsible for overseeing the investigation.
• If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage two investigation, they can ask for a stage three review by a panel with an independent chair.

What happened

9. A previous Ombudsman’s investigation (23 006 759) noted Mrs X had complained about how the Council’s children’s services supported her child. We found Mrs X had complained in April 2023 but by August 2023, the Council had not sent its stage one response. We found this was three months later than it should have been. The Council agreed to send a stage one response to Mrs X’s complaint within 20 working days and pay her £75 to recognise her injustice.
10. The Council told us the reason for the delay was because its complaints team had been dealing with a backlog and then the manager assigned to respond to Mrs X’s complaint left their role.
11. Following our final decision in late August 2023, we asked the Council for proof it had completed the stage one response and sent Mrs X’s the £75 payment. It told us it has not done so, and its complaint service says its children’s service has not sent an update when requested.

Findings

12. A key principle of the children’s statutory complaints procedure is to ensure that those who make complaints about children’s services have their concerns resolved swiftly, and wherever possible, by the people who provide the service locally.
13. The law and statutory guidance is clear; councils must complete stage one investigations within 20 working days. At present, the Council’s response is five months late. The further two months delay since the previous Ombudsman’s investigation was fault.
14. In addition, the Council has failed to comply with the agreed action from our previous investigation. This was further fault. When a council agrees to take action following Ombudsman involvement, we expect it to do so within the required timescales. Failure to do so causes uncertainty and frustration for complainants and risks undermining public confidence in the Council.
15. The faults caused Mrs X undue frustration. Mrs X’s injustice is compounded by the fact that this is the second time we have found fault with the Council on the same matter.

Back to top

Agreed action

16. Within 20 working days of the date of my final decision the Council will take the following actions.
• Send its stage one response to Mrs X’s complaint.
• Apologise to Mrs X for the frustration she felt due to the fault identified in this decision. The Council will consider the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies, which sets out our expectations on apologies.
• Pay Miss X £225 in recognition of the frustration she experienced. This is made up of the £75 payment we previously recommended and a further £150 to recognise the impact of the additional delay.
17. Within two months of the date of my final decision, the Council will review why it has still not answered Mrs X’s complaint, despite a previous Ombudsman investigation finding it at fault for delay. If the Council identifies flaws in its processes, it will send the Ombudsman an action plan setting out how it intends to address those flaws.
18. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Final decision

19. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault leading to personal injustice for Mrs X. I have recommended action to remedy that injustice and prevent reoccurrence of the fault.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman