Summary: We find the Council at fault for failing to complete the statutory children’s complaints procedure and closing Miss X’s complaint. The Council has re-started the statutory children’s complaints procedure. It will also make a symbolic payment to Miss X and apologise to her.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to complete the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The substantive matters complained about to the Council include how children’s services have failed to support her child.

2. Miss X says the Council’s actions have caused undue stress and violated her child’s human rights.

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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. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
5. 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)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. I have investigated how the Council handled Miss X’s complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
7. 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 Miss X’s concerns about children’s services failing to provide support to her child and actions taken by other Council departments that have led to undue stress for her and her child.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered the complaint and information provided by Miss X and the Council.
9. I referred to the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies, a copy of which can be found on our website.
10. Miss X and the Council had the chance to comment on my draft decision. I considered comments made before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

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 first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
13. 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 look into the complaint and an independent person (IP) who is responsible for overseeing the investigation and ensuring its independence.
14. Following the investigation, a senior manager (the adjudicating officer) at the council should carry out an adjudication. The officer considers the IO report and any report from the IP. They decide what the council’s response to the complaint will be, including what action it will take. The adjudicating officer should then write to the complainant with a copy of the investigation report, any report from the independent person and the adjudication response.
15. The whole stage two process should be completed within 25 working days but guidance allows an extension for up to 65 working days where required.
16. 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.

What happened

17. Miss X made a complaint to the Council in March 2023. Part of her complaint was considered at stage one under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. Unhappy with the Council’s investigation at stage one, Miss X asked for her complaint to be escalated to stage two.
18. The Council did not progress her complaint to stage two of the procedure.
19. In October 2023 Miss X informed the Council she intended to take legal action against it.
20. Miss X also complained to the Ombudsman around this time. In November 2023 we reached a decision about Miss X’s complaint (23 011 323). The Council told us it would contact Miss X to complete stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
21. In March 2024 the Ombudsman asked the Council for an update about Miss X’s complaint.
22. The Council took no action between November 2023 and March 2024. It says the complaint was put on hold because Miss X told it she was starting legal action against it.
23. The Council did not tell Miss X her complaint had been put on hold in November 2023.
24. In March 2024 the Council received a written notice telling it Miss X had stopped legal proceedings.
25. Following discussing the complaint with the Ombudsman, at the start of April 2024 the Council invited Miss X to start stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
26. The Council told Miss X she needed to clarify a statement of complaint with it for stage two to start. Miss X replied to the Council twice that month.
27. In her reply, the Council say Miss X did not explain why she wants to move to stage two and it was unable to write a statement of complaint.
28. At the start of May 2024, the Council wrote to Miss X and informed her it will not move her complaint to stage two as she has not provided it with the information it needs to do so. The Council closed Miss X’s complaint.

My findings

29. The Council failed to progress Miss X’s complaint to stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure in July 2023, November 2023, and in April 2024. This was fault by the Council.
30. The Council should have informed Miss X it had put her complaint on hold in November 2023. This was fault by the Council.
31. The Council admits this fault. It says that the Officer involved has since left and it has apologised to Miss X for failing to update her.
32. In May 2024 the Council say it closed Miss X’s complaint because she did not provide specific information about a statement of complaint. It says it did not know what part of the complaint she wanted to progress to stage two.
33. Miss X and her child have a variety of health needs. Her child is disabled. Miss X and her child have also experienced homelessness and have sought support in recent years from different Council departments. These matters are complex. Despite the Council stating it was unclear, Miss X wrote twice to the Council, as it asked, in early April 2024. It is not unreasonable to expect the Council to either draft the statement of complaint itself, and check with Miss X its accuracy, or progress the complaint to stage two so that the investigating officer can agree the statement of complaint with Miss X directly.
34. Closing Miss X’s complaint in May 2024 appears to be fault by the Council.

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Agreed action

35. To remedy the injustice to Miss X from fault by the Council, it has agreed to take the following action within four weeks of this final decision:
• Apologise to Miss X in line with our guidance on Making an Effective Apology. 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 in my findings.
• Pay Miss X a symbolic payment of £250. This is £50 for every month there was a delay in progressing to stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure from March 2024.
• Considering the findings of this investigation, start stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure without further delay. Miss X should agree a statement of complaint with the investigating officer, not the Council complaints department due to delay already caused by this. Timescales set out in the statutory guidance ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’ should be adhered to at stage two and should Miss X wish to further escalate her complaint, at stage three. If the investigation takes longer than 25 days at stage two, Miss X should be informed of the reasons why and it should take no longer than 65 days to complete.
36. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final Decision

37. There was fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice caused by the fault. Therefore I have completed my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman