Summary: Ms X complained that the Council had failed to re-assess her son’s (Y) social care needs, prepare a child in need plan for him and carry out a carer’s assessment for her. We found fault with the Council for its failure to consider Ms X’s complaint through its children’s statutory complaint procedure. The Council’s fault caused injustice to Ms X. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment for Ms X’s distress.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s:
• delay in carrying out a social care assessment for Y;
• failure to prepare Y’s child in need plan;
• failure to carry out a carer’s assessment for her.
2. Ms X says the Council’s failings meant that for many months Y did not receive suitable support for his social care needs. Ms X spent much time asking the Council to act. The Council’s failure to provide social care services for Y meant Ms X felt overwhelmed and exhausted physically and mentally when trying to support Y and his sister, who has her own special needs.

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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. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(1)(A) and 25(7), as amended).
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
6. 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)
7. 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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What I have and have not investigated

8. Ms X complained about the Council’s educational and social care services for Y. I have investigated educational issues under the reference number 24 007 332.
9. I have not investigated anything that happened after April 2024, when the Council responded to Ms X’s complaint at stage two. As indicated in paragraph five of this decision the Council should have an opportunity to respond to any concerns first. Any later events were not part of the complaint Ms X raised with us in July 2024.

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How I considered this complaint

10. I considered the evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
11. I referred to our Guide for practitioners ‘Children’s statutory complaints process’ updated in November 2023.
12. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and administrative framework

Children’s statutory complaint procedure

13. The guidance ‘Getting the best from complaints’ Social Care Complaints and Representations for Children, Young People and Others (Guidance) is based on the Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006. Only in exceptional circumstances councils can justify a variation from this document.
14. The Guidance specifies:
• which complaints should be considered under children’s statutory complaints procedure;
• who can complain;
• process and timescales for considering complaints.
15. 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.
• the first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
• 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 investigator and an independent person who is responsible for overseeing the investigation. Councils have 25 working days to complete stage two of the process from the date of request. Stage two may be extended to a maximum of 13 weeks.
• 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 days of the date of request, and then issue a final response within 20 days of the panel hearing.

What happened

Background

16. Y is 16 and has complex special educational needs.
17. At the end of December 2021 the Council carried out a child and family assessment for Y. It identified a range of needs but did not say whether it would meet them and how.

Social care

18. In February 2023 Y’s social worker referred him to a specific animal therapy service. The service assessed Y in April 2023 but failed to contact Ms X following this assessment. After calling the service in October 2023 Ms X found out that it was not available anymore.
19. In mid-June 2023 the Council started a new child and family assessment, which was completed at the end of November 2023. The Council found Y had some social care needs, which included the need for:
• opportunities to take part in activities outside the family home and in the community;
• Ms X to have a break from her caring role.
20. In mid-August 2023 the Council agreed it would make direct payments to fund support for Y for six hours a week.
21. A few days later Ms X complained about the lack of an up-to-date social care assessment for Y. His last assessment, she said, had taken place in October 2021. She asked the Council to consider her complaint following the Council’s children’s statutory complaint procedure.
22. The Council upheld Ms X’s complaint in mid-October 2023. It accepted it should have reviewed Y’s child and family assessment by December 2022.
23. At the end of November 2023 Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint about Y’s social care at stage two of the children’s statutory complaint procedure.
24. In April 2024 the Council provided stage two response to Ms X’s complaint about social care services for Y as part of its response to the complaint about Y’s education.
25. The Council started making direct payments for Y from the end of September 2024. Ms X told me the amount was incorrect.

Post-complaint legal correspondence about Y’s social care

26. In August 2024 Ms X’s representative sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Council, followed by further correspondence in December. This correspondence referred to the lack of social care support for Y from March 2021.
27. In its final response to Ms X’s pre-action protocol letter sent in January 2025 the Council recognised it had failed to provide support for Y’s social care needs identified in the assessment completed in December 2021 and delayed his child and family assessment reviews. The Council offered to reimburse Ms X the cost of Y’s gym membership, swimming pool membership and personal training sessions from the end of December 2021 up to January 2025, totalling £4,293. The Council also offered an apology and an additional payment of £500.

Analysis

28. The Guidance sets out which of councils’ children social care functions should be considered under the children’s statutory complaint procedure. They include services under part three of the Children Act 1989, such as assessments and services for children in need.
29. When complaining about the Council’s failures to provide social care services for Y and for her as Y’s carer, Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint under its children’s statutory complaint procedure. The Council failed to do so and responded to Ms X’s complaint following its corporate complaint procedure. It did not explain why it was not complying with Ms X’s request.
30. 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. Because of this, we expect people to complete the complaints procedure before we will consider whether there were any flaws in the way councils investigated their concerns.
31. The Council’s failure to carry out the children’s statutory complaint procedure for Ms X’s complaint about social care services for Y is fault. This fault caused injustice to Ms X as she should have had her complaint considered following the process and within the timescales laid out in paragraph 15 of this decision. We consider councils’ failure to adhere to the statutory procedure an injustice in its own right.
32. In its final response to Ms X’s pre-action protocol correspondence the Council accepted its failure to provide adequate social care services for Y from December 2021 and apologised. The Council also offered some financial remedies, which Ms X accepted.
33. When making decisions on the suitable remedies for Ms X’s injustice I have considered that there is nothing else that could be achieved through further investigation of Ms X’s complaint about social care services for Y up to April 2024. The Council recognised its failings and offered suitable remedy. The payments have now been completed.

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Action

34. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, we recommend the Council within four weeks of my final decision complete the following:
• apologise to Ms X for the injustice caused to her by the Council’s fault. 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 the apology I have recommended;
• pay Miss X £150 to acknowledge the unnecessary frustration, caused by the Council’s failure to consider her complaint under the statutory children’s complaint procedure.

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

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Decision

35. I found fault causing injustice. The Council has accepted my recommendations, so this investigation is at an end.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman