Summary: We upheld Mrs X’s complaint about delays in the Council’s consideration of her complaint through the children’s statutory complaints process. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused. We did not investigate Mrs X’s substantive complaint about the Council’s social care involvement with her child because the second stage of the statutory children’s procedure is almost complete.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s social care involvement regarding her child, Y. Mrs X also complained about delays in the Council’s response to her statutory children’s complaint.
2. Mrs X said the matter caused her distress, frustration, and uncertainty.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended).
4. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

The Children’s statutory complaints procedures

7. 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.
8. The timescales to complete each stage of the process are:
• stage one: response within 20 working days;
• stage two: response within a maximum of 65 working days; and
• stage three: set up an independent panel within 30 working days and issue a final response within 20 working days of the panel hearing.

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My assessment

9. If we investigated this complaint, we would likely find fault because:
• Mrs X complained at stage two of the statutory children’s complaints process to the Council in June 2023. The Council appointed an Investigating Officer and agreed a statement of complaint in July 2023. The statement of complaint was updated in September 2023 to include additional complaints made by Mrs X. The complaints included, but were not limited to, delays in the social care assessment process, delays in response to respite requests, and poor communication.
• The Council should have completed stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure by September 2023. It had not completed the process by May 2024, which is eight months late. The Council said it received the Investigating Officer’s report in mid-May 2024 during the Ombudsman’s consideration of the complaint.
10. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused to Mrs X by the delays.
11. The statutory children’s complaints procedure was set up to provide children, young people, and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough, and prompt response to their concerns. Because of this, we expect people to complete the complaints procedure before we will consider whether there were any flaws in how the Council investigated their concerns. I have therefore not investigated Mrs X’s substantive concerns about the Council’s social care involvement. This is because the Council has now received the Independent Officer’s stage two report, and it has agreed to complete the second stage of the children’s statutory process within one month. Therefore, it is reasonable for Mrs X’s complaint to complete the children’s statutory process and we will not consider the matter further at this time.

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Agreed action

12. Within one month of this final decision, the Council agreed to:
• apologise to Mrs X for the distress, frustration, and uncertainty caused by the delay in completing the stage two complaints process;
• pay Mrs X a symbolic payment of £400 to recognise the distress, frustration, and uncertainty caused by the delay; and
• complete the second stage of the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
13. These actions are suitable remedies for the frustration and uncertainty caused by the delay.

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Final decision

14. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman