Summary: We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint because the Council delayed arranging a panel to consider a complaint at stage three of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has now agreed to resolve the complaint by arranging the panel, apologising to Mrs X and making a payment to her to remedy the time and trouble she has been to.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council has delayed arranging a panel to consider her complaint at stage three of the statutory children’s 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)
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

The statutory complaints procedure

6. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, Getting the Best from Complaints, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail.
7. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution, where councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
8. 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 investigator and an independent person who is responsible for overseeing the investigation. Councils have up to 13 weeks to complete stage two of the process from the date of request.
9. 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 days of the date of request and then issue a final response within 20 days of the panel hearing.
10. The statutory guidance says that if a complaint has been accepted at stage one the local authority is obliged to ensure the complaint proceeds to stages two and three if the complainant requests this.

Assessment

11. Mrs X asked the Council to escalate her complaint to stage three of the statutory procedure on 16 June. The Council has yet to arrange the panel meeting but hopes to arrange a date in October.
12. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely we would find the Council at fault. This is because there has been a delay in the Council arranging the stage three panel meeting. This has meant Mrs X has been to some significant time and trouble pursuing her complaint.
13. We therefore asked the Council to arrange a stage three panel date for October 2025 within one month. We also asked the Council to apologise to Mrs X and to make a payment to her of £150 to remedy the time and trouble she has been to pursuing her complaint.
14. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and has agreed with our recommendations.

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Final decision

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

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman