Summary: Miss B complained about the Council’s delivery of her son’s social care support. We have found that the Council was at fault, as it has not yet dealt with Miss B’s complaint properly. It will now do so.

The complaint

1. Miss B says that, in August 2023, the Council assessed her son’s (C’s) needs. But she complains that it failed to do so properly, and its offer of social care support was inadequate.
2. Miss B also says that, in May 2024, the Council reviewed C’s support and increased it. But she complains that this, still, was not a fair reflection of the family’s needs. In particular, she complains that no additional support was offered for school holidays.
3. Miss B says the Council’s failure to provide the right support has left her feeling exhausted. She wants a fresh review of C’s support plan, an increase of his support, and backdated payments.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’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)
6. 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

7. I considered evidence provided by Miss B and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Miss B 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

9. The statutory guidance, ‘Getting the best from complaints’, sets out a three-stage procedure for complaints about certain aspects of children’s social care. I refer to this as ‘the statutory procedure’.
10. Parents can use this procedure to complain about their children’s social care assessment and support.
11. The benefit of the statutory procedure is that the parent gets an independent investigation of their complaint (at stage 2), and, if they wish, an independent review (at stage 3).
12. If a complainant wants to progress their complaint through all three stages of the statutory procedure, then they have the right to do so.
13. The Ombudsman normally expects councils (and complainants) to follow the full statutory procedure before involving us. A complaint can only be referred to the Ombudsman earlier if, following a robust stage two investigation, all significant parts of the complaint have been upheld.
14. In Miss B’s case, the Council asked its special educational needs service to respond to her complaint about C’s social care support (presumably because the support was so closely linked to C’s special educational needs).
15. The Council says that, because the functions performed by its special educational needs service do not come under the statutory procedure (which is true), it did not process Miss B’s complaint under that procedure.
16. However, regardless of who the Council asked to respond to Miss B’s complaint, it was about a relevant matter under the statutory procedure (an assessment conducted, and support delivered, under section 17 of the Children Act 1989). Miss B had a statutory right to make a complaint under that procedure and she had a right to a stage 2 investigation if she wanted one.
17. With this in mind, and as the criteria for an early referral to the Ombudsman are not met, the complaint should now be considered under stage 2 of the statutory procedure.
18. If Miss B is still unhappy after all three stages of the statutory procedure have been completed, she can come back to us and ask us to consider her complaint.

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Action

19. The Council has agreed to allocate an investigator to consider Miss B’s complaint under stage 2 of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
20. The Council has provided us with evidence it has done this.

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Decision

21. The Council was at fault for failing to handle Miss B’s complaint properly. This caused her an injustice, which the Council has taken action to address.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman