Summary: Ms A complained about the way the Council has carried out a child in need assessment for her child. She says this has prevented her family from accessing the support they need. We found the Council at fault for failing to deal with the complaint appropriately. The Council has agreed to consider the complaint through the statutory complaints procedure.

The complaint

1. Ms A complained about the way the Council carried out a child in need assessment. She says it has not assessed properly and this has meant her family is without the support they need.
2. Ms A is seeking an apology, a recognition payment for what she says has gone wrong, a new assessment to be carried out and for staff to be reminded of the correct processes.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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What I found

7. 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.
8. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage two investigation, they can ask for a stage three review by an independent panel. The council must hold the panel within 30 working days of the date of request and then issue a final response within 20 working days of the panel hearing.
13. 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. This independence is not available to complaints put through the corporate complaints procedure. 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 Ms A’s complaint about the way the Council carried out its Child in Need assessment.
14. Ms A complained to the Council in January 2025. The Council provided its response to the complaint in February 2025.
15. The Council confirmed it had considered the complaint in line with its corporate complaints procedure, which is a one stage process, and referred Ms A to this office if she remained unhappy.
16. The Council has not considered the complaint correctly and is at fault for this.
17. The Council has caused Ms A the injustice of not having her complaint considered as it should have been.
18. I therefore recommended the Council consider Ms A’s complaint through the statutory complaints procedure.

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Agreed Action

19. Within one month of the final decision, the Council should:
• apologise to Ms A. 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.
• accept Ms A’s complaint of January 2025 for consideration under the statutory complaints procedure and then complete that process.
20. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

21. I found fault causing injustice, the Council has agreed to carry out actions in recognition of this.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman