Summary: Mrs X complained about the way the Council dealt with her son’s care. The Council was at fault for failing to remedy loss of provision and lack of support services, delaying carrying out agreed adaptations to Mrs X’s property and refusing to consider her complaint at stage three of the Children Act complaints procedure. This caused Mrs X distress and uncertainty. The Council should apologise, make a payment, offer additional provision and send us an action plan for service improvements.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the way the Council dealt with her son, Y, she complains the Council:
1. failed to provide support services for her son Y;
2. failed to implement some of the recommendations from stage two of the statutory complaints procedure;
3. delayed in providing services related to the recommendations;
4. offered an inadequate financial remedy; and
5. refused to escalate the complaint to stage three.
2. Mrs X says the lack of services has placed Y at risk, particularly during the school holidays. Mrs X also says Y missed out on more than 24 nights respite care in an eight-month period. Mrs X said this situation has caused her and Y significant distress and she is now receiving private therapy.

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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. 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)
5. 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

6. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and guidance

The Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies

8. We do not punish councils in the way a court might. This means we do not award ‘damages’ or ‘compensation’.
9. Instead, we can ask a council to make a payment to ‘symbolise and acknowledge’ the distress someone suffered because of what it did wrong.   
10. If we decide it is appropriate, we normally recommend a remedy payment for distress of up to £500. But we can recommend higher payments if we decide the distress was especially severe or prolonged.
11. If the outcome of the complaints procedure confirms there has been lost provision, the council should consider offering additional provision to make up for the loss (e.g. respite).

Statutory guidance on handling children’s social care complaints

12. The statutory guidance, ‘Getting the best from complaints’, sets out a three-stage procedure for complaints about certain aspects of children’s social care. However, councils can refer complainants to the Ombudsman after stage 2 of the procedure in certain circumstances.
13. For this to happen, stage 2 must have delivered:
• A robust report.
• An outcome where all significant complaints have been upheld, as have the majority of the complainant’s desired outcomes.
• A clear action plan to remedy the complainant’s injustice and, if relevant, to improve the council’s service.

What happened?

The Council’s investigation into Mrs X’s complaint

14. Mrs X complained to the Council in April 2023. The Council responded under the first two stages of the Children Act complaints procedure. The second stage involved an independent investigation.
15. The Council upheld each of Mrs X’s complaint points. It said:

• It had failed to provide Y with the support services he needed, including respite.
• There had been delays in securing support services and poor communication about what was available and what referrals would be made, and when.
• Between June 2021 and March 2023, Y was allocated five different social workers.
• There were significant delays in providing occupational therapy to Y and it failed to send an occupational therapy assessment to Mrs X.

The Council’s offers to Mrs X and recommendations

16. The Council offered:
• An apology.
• A symbolic £1000 payment to recognise Mrs X’s time and trouble in complaining and any distress arising from its failings on Y’s case, which Mrs X accepted and said she spent on private therapy due to the distress caused by the Council’s actions.
• An update on adaptations to Mrs X’s home.
17. The Council also agreed a range of service improvements, including developing a new occupational therapy process which it has provided evidence of implementation.
18. Although Mrs X asked the Council to escalate her complaint to stage 3 of the complaints procedure, it refused. It said it had upheld all of Mrs X’s complaint points and agreed to all the recommendations made at stage 2, apart from one, which was the responsibility of another agency. It suggested she approached the Ombudsman and provided her with an early referral letter.

My findings

19. If a complaint has already been through the second stage of the Children Act complaints procedure, this means the complainant has already had access to an independent investigation.
20. Consequently, we will not normally re-investigate such a complaint unless we have reason to believe the previous investigation was flawed.
21. I have considered the documents from Mrs X’s complaint, and I note that:
• Each part of the complaint was considered and addressed by the Council.
• The independent investigation report refers to relevant procedure and case records. These case records support the investigator’s findings.
• All parts of the complaint were upheld.
22. Because of this, it is unlikely I would be able to add anything significant to what the Council has already said. If I were to reinvestigate the complaint, it is also unlikely that this would lead to a different outcome for Mrs X. So a reinvestigation would be of no benefit to her.
23. I have, however, considered whether the Council’s proposed remedies properly recognise the injustice it has caused.
24. The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance outlines that we can recommend small, symbolic payments which recognise an injustice.
25. The Council has already made a payment of £1000 as a financial remedy to Mrs X. The Council said this was to recognise her time and trouble in complaining and the distress, upset or frustration caused by its faults. This financial remedy is in line with our guidance, so I have no grounds to recommend that the Council increase this payment for the faults identified at stage two of the complaints procedure.
26. However, the Council does not appear to have considered, as part of its recommendations, any quantifiable loss that Y may have suffered because of its failings.
27. The Council acknowledged that it failed to make a referral to a respite service for eight months and that this caused Y to be without respite services for longer than he should have been. Our guidance on remedies says that, if the outcome of the complaints procedure confirms there has been lost provision, the council should consider offering additional provision to make up for the loss. The Council did not do this here. I have made a recommendation for the Council to offer Mrs X and Y extra respite to make up for the lost provision.
28. The Council also upheld Mrs X’s complaint that there was a lack of support services available for Y. It said this was due to capacity and unavailability of services which was a complex issue and not something the Council could fix alone. I welcome the Council’s apology to Mrs X about this, and that this fault was acknowledged in the £1000 financial remedy accepted by Mrs X. However, the Council did not make any recommendations about how it would make service improvements related to this or how it would ensure Y received services he is entitled to in the future. I have made further recommendations about this matter.
29. I also note the Council recommended in its stage two response in January 2024 that it would progress the needed adaptations at Mrs X’s home and update her on this. In the Council’s response to my enquiries in February 2025, it provided a document which showed increased communication with Mrs X about this matter. It also noted that plans were in place for the adaptations, but these had still not been made to the property. Although I welcome that plans are in place for the works to be completed, this is still considerable further delay, which has caused Mrs X and Y further distress.
30. I have also considered the Council’s refusal to consider Mrs X’s complaint under stage three of the complaints procedure. I agree that the Council completed a robust report, and upheld all of Mrs X’s complaint. But, the Council failed to produce a clear action plan to remedy all of the injustice caused to Mrs X and Y as explained above. This was fault, which caused Mrs X frustration.

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Action

31. Within four weeks of our final decision, the Council will:
• apologise to Mrs X for the identified faults. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making its apology;
• send us an action plan of how it will provide Mrs X and Y with extra provision, equating to 24 nights respite care to recognise Y’s missed respite provision caused by the Council’s faults. In doing so, the Council can use flexibility in terms of services and timeframes for this respite to be completed, but this should meet Mrs X and Y’s individual needs. In forming this action plan, the Council should agree the terms with Mrs X and Y; and
• make a payment of £250 to Mrs X. This is to recognise the distress and frustration caused by failing to remedy all the injustice at stage two of the Children Act complaints procedure. It is also to recognise the delay in completing some recommendations and failing to consider her complaint at stage three.
32. Within eight weeks of our final decision, the Council will send us an action plan which sets out:

• how it will deliver the adaptations to Mrs X’s property including timeframes for completion;
• how it will ensure it provides the relevant support services to Y; and
• how it will seek to overcome any obstacles in commissioning around services for disabled children.

33. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

I find fault causing injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman