Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to help her family including support for her daughter with suicidal ideation, not providing suitable education and leaving the family in a house where they were at risk. The Council was at fault for failing to consider the complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. It will now consider Ms X’s concerns through the statutory procedure as well as apologising and making a payment for failing to do this originally.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council failed to help her family including support for her daughter with suicidal ideation, not providing suitable education and leaving the family in a house where they were at risk.
2. Ms X says this caused distress and put her family at risk.

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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 an injustice, 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 the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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What I found

The statutory children’s complaints procedure

8. Complaints about some issues relating to children must be responded to using the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The procedure was set up to give children and those representing them an opportunity for a thorough independent investigation of their concerns.
9. The statutory procedure has three stages:
• Stage 1 is local resolution by the council.
• Stage 2 is an investigation by an investigating officer (IO) who will prepare a detailed report and findings. The investigation is overseen by an independent person (IP) to ensure its impartiality. The council then issues an adjudication letter which sets out its response to the findings.
• Stage 3 is a review panel with an independent chair to consider their outstanding issues.
10. The law sets out what issues must be considered using the statutory complaints procedure.

Key facts

11. This section sets out the key events in this case and is not intended to be a detailed chronology.
12. Ms X made a complaint to the Council on 13 September 2024. Ms X said she was writing to express her deep concern and frustration with the handling of her case by social services. She specifically mentioned the accommodation provided by social care and that she was forced to move every three to five days; that her daughter was having to move outside London on police advice and was missing out on education; despite signing a section 20 agreement for her daughter, the Council was requiring her to attend appointments and this was hard without support.
13. The Council provided a stage one response on 25 October which mentioned several other emails from Ms X between 11 September and 16 October raising issues. The response was 13 pages long and covered all the issues raised including the failures of social services to provide support for herself and her family.
14. Ms X escalated her complaint to stage two as advised at the end of the stage one complaint response. She raised the same concerns as previously saying social services has a duty of care to ensure the safety and well-being of vulnerable families, especially those with children with disabilities. The Council’s stage two response dated 14 November 2024 was detailed and partly upheld the complaint. It referred Ms X to the Ombudsman if she remained dissatisfied.

Findings

15. Councils should use the children’s statutory complaints procedure for complaints about actions they take to meet their duties under Part 3 of the Children Act 1989. This has not happened in this case. No independent person was involved and the Council failed to mention the three-stage procedure which includes a review panel. The Council has used its corporate complaints’ procedure even though the issues clearly involve social care.
16. In our view, the Council’s failure to respond to Ms X’s complaint using the children’s statutory complaints procedure was fault. As a parent she met the criteria of someone “who may complain” as per the statutory guidance: Getting the Best from Complaints In my view, the content of Ms X’s complaint also meets the criteria of “what may be complained about” because she raises concerns about:
• Concern about the quality or appropriateness of a service;
• delivery or non-delivery of services; and
• the impact on a child or young person of the application of a local authority policy.
17. The statutory procedure provides an important, independent, route of redress for vulnerable children, young people and those acting on their behalf. The fault meant Ms X had to go through the wrong complaints procedure and complain to the Ombudsman unnecessarily.

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Action

18. Within one month of the date of my final decision, the Council should take the following action:
• apologise to Ms X for the time and trouble she went to when pursuing her complaint through the corporate complaints procedure needlessly. We publish Guidance on Remedies which sets out our expectations for how councils should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended;
• commission a stage two investigation into Ms X’s complaint immediately. The investigation should be completed within specified timescales; and
• Make Ms X a symbolic payment of £300 to recognise the distress caused and her time and trouble in pursuing a complaint including to the Ombudsman as the Council failed to use the correct procedure.
19. Within three months of the date of my final decision, the Council should remind relevant staff of the statutory guidance ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’ particularly around ‘who may complain’ and ‘what may be complained about’. The Council should also draw attention to the Ombudsman’s practitioner’s guidance. The Council should remind staff via training, or a briefing paper, a copy of which can be shared with the Ombudsman.
20. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

21. I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault for the reasons explained in this statement. The Council has agreed to implement the actions I have recommended. These appropriately remedy any injustice caused by fault.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman