Summary: We will not investigate the Council’s handling of Ms X’s complaint about its children’s services under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to arrange a stage three panel. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s handling of her complaint about its children’s services under the children’s statutory complaints procedure.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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 law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. We usually expect people to complete the complaints procedure before we will consider whether there were any flaws in how the Council investigated their concerns.
9. Ms X first complained about the actions of the Councils children’s services in 2021. The complaints process was paused due to ongoing court proceedings until December 2023. The Council investigated her complaint at stage two and provided a stage two response in August 2024.
10. Ms X asked the Council to escalate the complaint to stage three. The Council has told us it has accepted the request and is currently in the process of arranging the stage three panel hearing.
11. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council has agreed to arrange the stage three panel and it is reasonable to allow this process to conclude. An investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome.
12. If Ms X remains dissatisfied following the stage three panel, it is open to her to bring the complaint back to us for further consideration.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the Council has agreed to convene a stage three panel and an investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman