Summary: We have upheld Miss X’s complaint because the Council did not consider her complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about how the Council carried out an assessment for her children.

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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)
3. 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Children Act 1989 sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services.
7. The Council carried out assessments for Miss X’s children under Section 17 of the Children Act. Miss X complained, and the Council considered her complaint under its corporate complaints’ procedure.
8. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because the Council investigated and responded to Miss X’s complaint under the wrong procedure. I am satisfied this will have caused her some frustration.
9. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by the likely fault by starting a stage two investigation under the statutory children complaints procedure, apologising to Miss X for not doing so sooner and remind relevant staff that complaints about Section 17 assessments should be considered under the statutory procedure. To its credit, the Council agreed to carry out these actions within one month.

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Final decision

10. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing an appropriate remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman