Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about delay in the Council’s handling of Mr Z’s complaint under the statutory children complaints procedure. This is because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused by the likely fault.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about delay in the Council’s handling of Mr Z’s complaint under the statutory children complaints procedure.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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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. Ms X is Mr Z’s advocate. The Children Act 1989 sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. We call this the statutory children complaints procedure. Mr Z made a complaint which the Council was dealing with under this procedure.
6. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing an injustice. This is because the Council should have completed stage two within 65 working days of the request for the complaint to be escalated to stage two.
7. Mr Z requested his complaint be escalated to stage two on 29 August 2024. Therefore, stage two of the procedure should have been completed by 28 November 2024. To date, it has not yet been completed. I am satisfied this will be causing Mr Z distress and frustration.
8. We therefore asked the Council to remedy this by completing the following:
• Make a financial payment of £50 for each month of delay. There has been around seven months of delay so the total to pay is £350. The Council should complete this within four weeks of the final decision.
• Issue the stage two investigation report, independent person report, and adjudication response within six weeks of the final decision.

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Agreed action

9. The Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within the timescales agreed to put things right.

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Final decision

10. We have upheld this complaint because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused by the likely fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman