Cornwall Council (25 012 210)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We have upheld Mr X’s complaint because the Council delayed considering his complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mr X.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about how the Council has dealt with safeguarding concerns about his children. Mr X approached the Ombudsman after the Council delayed considering his complaint at stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- If we were to investigate this complaint, it is likely we would find the Council at fault. This is because Mr X asked the Council to progress his complaint to stage two of the statutory complaints procedure in March and there has been a delay in doing so with the complaint only recently being allocated to an investigation team. This has caused Mr X distress in the form of frustration and uncertainty.
- We therefore asked the Council to complete its investigation without further delay, apologise to Mr X for the delay and pay him £300 to remedy the distress this caused. To its credit, the Council agreed.
Final decision
- 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