Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about delay in the Council responding to her complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaint procedure. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about delay in the Council responding to her complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaint procedure.

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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 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Children Act 1989 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 complaint procedure.
6. Mrs X’s substantive complaint is about the service received from the children with disabilities team and the lack of support received despite her child being a child in need. Mrs X asked the Council to progress her complaint to stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure in the beginning of June 2024.
7. Councils have up to 25 working days to complete stage two of the procedure from the date of request, with a maximum extension to 65 working days.
8. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault causing Mrs X injustice. This is because the Council should have issued the stage two investigation report and its adjudication response by the beginning of September 2024. Therefore, there has been a delay of around two months. The delay is also ongoing.
9. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by the likely fault by completing the following:
• Apologise to Mrs X for the delay in responding to her complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaint procedure.
• Make a financial payment of £50 for each month of delay to recognise the distress and frustration caused. Total £100.
• Issue the stage two investigation report and the Council’s adjudication letter as soon as possible, and within four weeks of the final decision statement.
• If there continues to be delay with the stage two complaint response, the Council will continue to make a financial payment of £50 for each further month of delay.

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Agreed action

10. To its credit the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within four weeks of the final decision statement to put things right.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman