Summary: The Council was at fault in how it dealt with Ms X’s complaint about its adoption service. This caused her frustration and meant she had to pursue her complaint through the wrong procedure unnecessarily. To remedy this injustice, the Council will apologise to Ms X, pay her £250 and begin a stage two investigation under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. It will also issue staff reminders to prevent the fault happening again.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council approved her to adopt a child but it insisted the child move into her home without a suitable transition period. She also complained the Council then cancelled the adoption placement days before the child was due to move in. Ms X said the Council failed to explain why it had cancelled the adoption and failed to progress her complaint. She said this caused significant disruption to her life and had a negative impact on the child.

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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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What I have and have not investigated

5. Under the General Data Protection Regulation, individuals have the right to make a subject access request (SAR) to obtain a copy of the personal data an organisation holds about them. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about how an organisation responded to a SAR. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended).
6. Ms X is unhappy with how the Council responded to an SAR she made. I have seen no good reason to investigate this matter so I have not considered it further.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I have considered:
• All the information Ms X provided and discussed the complaint with her;
• The Council’s comments about the complaint and the supporting documents it provided; and
• The relevant law and guidance and the Ombudsman's guidance on remedies.
8. Ms X and the organisation 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

Relevant law and guidance

9. 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 adoption. Councils must use the procedure where they receive a complaint about a matter that falls under the scope of the procedure.
10. 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.
11. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
12. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two. Once a complaint has entered stage one, the council is obliged to ensure it proceeds to stage 2 and 3 if the complainant wants this to happen. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. The Ombudsman would normally expect a council and complainant to follow the full complaints procedure. The statutory guidance sets out the circumstances in which a complaint can be referred to the Ombudsman without completing all three stages. This is called an early referral. It can only happen when the stage two investigation is robust with all, or all significant complaints upheld. Councils must show they agree to meet most of the complainant’s desired outcomes and have a clear action plan for delivery.

What happened

16. The Council approved Ms X for adoption and identified a child who was in foster care as a suitable placement for her. The Council began the process of transitioning the child from foster care to Ms X’s home but a few days before the child was due to move into Ms X’s home permanently, the Council cancelled the placement.
17. Ms X wrote to the Council and asked for an explanation of its decision. She did not receive a response and later made a complaint, which the Council responded to in early December 2024.
18. Ms X was unhappy with that response and sent a detailed response to the Council where she asked for a full complaint investigation. The Council responded in mid-March 2025, under stage one of the corporate complaints procedure.
19. Ms X believed the Council was responding under stage one of the children’s statutory complaints procedure and said she did not feel there was anything to be achieved by taking the complaint through stages two and three. She asked the Council to agree to make an early referral to the Ombudsman. The Council agreed there was nothing more to gain from responding to Ms X’s complaint further. It said it agreed to an early referral to the Ombudsman.
20. We did not agree Ms X’s complaint met the criteria for an early referral and asked the Council to begin an investigation at stage two of the statutory procedure. We sent the Council a copy of the short complaint Ms X made to us. The Council refused and said it would respond at stage one of the procedure. It said this was because the complaint Ms X made to the Ombudsman contained more detail than the one she made to the Council.

Findings

21. 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. Where an investigation has completed all three stages we will normally only focus on whether a council has correctly followed the procedure and considered any recommendations. I have therefore not investigated Mrs X’s concerns about the adoption.
22. Ms X’s complaint related to matters that fall under the scope of the statutory procedure so the Council had to respond using the procedure. The Council failed to do this, which was fault. Instead, it responded in December 2024 outside of any complaints procedure and then at stage one of the corporate complaints procedure in March 2025.
23. Despite this, the Council then tried to make an early referral to the Ombudsman under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. A council can only do an early referral if a complaint has met the requirements in paragraph 15. This includes that the council has completed a robust stage two investigation. That was not the case with Ms X’s complaint. The Council cannot refer a complaint to the Ombudsman early under the statutory procedure because it does not think further investigation would add anything.
24. After the Ombudsman sent the Council a copy of Ms X’s complaint to us and asked it to begin a stage two investigation under the statutory procedure, the Council said it would begin a stage one investigation. This was fault. The Council said it wanted to do a stage one because the complaint we sent contained details it had not previously seen. That was not the case. Ms X’s complaint to the Ombudsman did not contain any notable new detail or information. Stage one of the statutory complaints procedure is local resolution. It is effectively the same as a stage one under the corporate complaints procedure. The Council has already had multiple opportunities to respond to Ms X’s complaint at a local level. It should now begin the stage two statutory children’s investigation Ms X is entitled to.
25. The faults in this section caused Ms X avoidable frustration and meant she had to go to time and trouble pursuing the complaint.

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Action

26. Within one month of the date of my final decision the Council will take the following actions.
1. Apologise to Ms X for the frustration and time and trouble she went to because of the faults identified in this decision. 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 Ms X £250 to recognise that injustice.
3. Begin a stage two investigation into Ms X’s complaint. The Council should complete the investigation within 65 working. When it completes the stage two investigation, the Council should tell Ms X of her right to request a stage three panel.
4. Remind complaints staff they should consider if a complaint related to adoption comes under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. If it does, the Council must use the procedure to investigate the complaint.
5. Remind complaints staff of the limited circumstances under which the Council can make a valid early referral under the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
27. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

28. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault leading to personal injustice. I have recommended action to remedy that injustice and prevent reoccurrence of this fault.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman