Summary: The Council was at fault in how it responded to Miss X’s complaint about the care it provided to her child. This caused Miss X avoidable frustration, for which the Council will apologise and pay her £200. It will also begin a stage two investigation of Miss X’s complaint under the children’s statutory complaint’s procedure.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the help the Council provided to her and her child when her child was classed as a child in need. Miss X also complained about:
• The Council’s refusal to consider recordings she had taken of meetings with staff on the basis that the staff had not consented to the recordings happening;
• Inadequate communication from the Council;
• Poor record keeping; and
• The Council’s failure to progress her complaint.

Miss X said this caused her significant distress and had an impact on her and her family.

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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)
3. 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)
4. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

Children’s statutory complaints procedure

7. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about certain children’s social care services. This includes complaints about support for children in need. Councils must use the procedure where they receive a complaint about a matter that falls under the scope of the procedure.
8. 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.
9. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
10. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two. At stage two 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. 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.
11. 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.

Child in need

12. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 says councils must safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need.
13. A child is in need if:

• They are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development unless the council provides support;
• Their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired unless the council provides support; or
• They are disabled.

Social Work England

14. Social workers are regulated by Social Work England and must register with it in order to practice. Social Work England can deregister a social worker if they fail to meet professional standards.

What happened

15. Miss X complained to the Council in February 2025, about matters which had occurred over the past two years, while her child was a child in need. Her complaint was around 500 pages long and focused on Miss X’s concerns about the ability of staff in the Council’s children’s service to work competently and in line with professional standards. However, it also included reference to other matters such as:
• Delayed child in need meetings;
• That the centres the Council had decided to use to facilitate contact between the children and family were unsuitable; and
• About a risk assessment the Council had completed.
16. In mid-March 2025, the Council responded to Miss X’s complaint at stage one of its corporate complaints procedure. It said it was aware Miss X had concerns about the ability of the staff who had been working with her family and that she had raised those concerns with Social Work England. It said it would wait to hear from Social Work England if it chose to investigate Miss X’s concerns.
17. Miss X asked for a stage two response to her complaint. The Council responded soon after to say:
• It had not used the statutory complaints procedure to respond to her complaint because her concerns related to professional standards and the ability of staff to practice; and
• It would not carry out a stage two investigation because Miss X had asked for £25,000 in compensation. It said a stage two investigation was unable to agree compensation of that level and that given the amount of money Miss X wanted, she should consider legal action, starting with making a claim on the Council’s insurance.
18. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman and we asked the Council to begin and complete a stage two investigation of Miss X’s complaint. In response, the Council told us:
• Miss X’s complaint was mainly about the professional standards of staff involved with the family, which she had raised with Social Work England; and
• It felt that because Miss X wanted £25,000 in compensation, she was focused on obtaining money, not seeking a genuine resolution to her concerns.
19. Subsequently, Miss X told the Ombudsman she had new concerns about the Council’s involvement with her children.

Findings

20. 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 statutory complaints procedure before we will consider whether there were any flaws in how the Council investigated their concerns. As a result, I have only investigated the Council’s handling of Miss X’s February 2025 complaint.
21. The Council must use the statutory procedure for matters which come under its scope. That includes support the Council provides to children in need, such as Miss X’s child. The Council feels Miss X’s complaint did not fall under the procedure because it primarily related to the professional standards of staff, which Social Work England consider. However, while much of Miss X’s complaint was about staff practice, many of the underlying issues clearly fall under the procedure. That includes, but is not restricted to, the matters listed at paragraph 15. When it received Miss X’s complaint, the Council should have accepted it under the statutory procedure and decided what parts of the complaint were separable from Miss X’s concerns about staff’s practice. It should have communicated its decision to Miss X and begun a stage one investigation into those concerns.
22. The Council also declined to use the statutory procedure because Miss X asked for a large amount of compensation, which it suggested she should pursue through legal action. The Council can rightfully choose not to investigate a complaint where doing so would prejudice ongoing court action. However, that was not the case for Miss X and the size of a complainant’s desired remedy is not a valid reason not to use the statutory procedure. Instead, the Council should have accepted Miss X’s complaint under the procedure and explained to her at the outset that the complaint investigation would be highly unlikely to result in a compensation payment of £25,000. That would have allowed Miss X to make an informed choice about whether to pursue the complaint or not.
23. The Council’s failure to use the statutory procedure was fault, and caused Miss X avoidable frustration, for which I have recommended a remedy below. This includes that the Council should be begin a stage two investigation under the procedure and complete it without delay. Since complaining to the Ombudsman Miss X has raised new issues. The Council should consider whether to include those matters in its stage two investigation and communicate its decision to her.
24. If, once Miss X has completed the statutory procedure, she remains unhappy, she may complain to the Ombudsman again. Where an investigation has completed all three stages we will normally only focus on whether a council has correctly followed the procedure and remedied any injustice appropriately. Where we consider a council has not remedied someone’s injustice, we can recommend further action. We may recommend small symbolic payments to recognise a person’s injustice. We do not provide compensation in the ways the courts do, or at the same scale.

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Action

25. Within one month of the date of my final decision, the Council will take the following actions.
1. Apologise to Miss X for the frustration she experienced because of its failure to investigate her complaint under the statutory complaints procedure. 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.
2. Pay Miss X £200 in recognition of that frustration.
3. Begin a stage two investigation under the statutory complaints procedure. It will complete that investigation within 65 working days.
26. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

27. I find fault causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman