Summary: The Council failed to investigate Mr X’s complaint about a lack of and inadequate social care support for his two disabled children under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The Council should apologise to Mr X and begin a stage 2 investigation under the complaints procedures within one month of the final decision.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of social care support in the way of respite for his two disabled children since 2024. He said poor decision making and inadequate Child in Need assessments led to prolonged periods of limited and insufficient support which did not, and continues to not, meet the children’s or family’s needs.
2. Mr X also believes the Council has discriminated against him due to his race.
3. Mr X said the matter has caused distress and uncertainty to the whole family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. 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(1), as amended)
6. 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

7. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Child in Need

9. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 defines a child in need as a child who “is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for them of services by a local authority”. A child who is disabled is classed as a child in need.
10. Section 17(1) of the Children Act imposes a duty on the Council to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within its area who are in need by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs. Services include:
• Advice, guidance and counselling
• Respite care
• Financial assistance
• Assistance for holidays
11. If the family is not happy with the council’s action under s17, and complains to the council, the law says the council should respond to that complaint using the Children Act statutory complaints procedure.

The statutory complaints procedure

12. 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. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
13. 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.
14. The statutory guidance gives examples of complaints which must be considered under the statutory children’s complaints process, including:
• An unwelcome or disputed decision
• Delay in decision making or provision of services
• Delivery or non-delivery of services including complaints procedures.
• Attitude and behaviour of staff
• Application of eligibility and assessment criteria
• The impact on a child or young person of the application of a local authority policy, and
• Assessment, care management and review

What happened

15. Mr X has two children who have complex needs and require care and support both during the day and at night. Both children have Child in Need (CIN) Plans.
16. In February 2025 Mr X complained to the Council. He complained about removal of respite care in 2023 and the lack of it to date. Mr X referred to repeated and inadequate and racially biased Child in Need assessments and poor attitude from the children’s social workers. Mr X believed his family was being discriminated against due to their race. Mr X said the lack of support was impacting the health and wellbeing of the family. He wanted reinstatement of the previous support hours in place. He said additional care and support would help the children access the community.
17. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint under its corporate complaints procedure. It did not uphold his complaint. Mr X escalated his complaint asking for it to be considered with independent oversight.
18. The Council provided a final complaint response in June 2025. It did not uphold the complaint.
19. Mr X remained unhappy and complained to us in October 2025. He said although support was in place it was still inadequate.

My findings

20. Mr X’s complaint is about non-delivery of social care support for his disabled children. The complaint includes lack of and inadequate respite support, poor assessments and attitude and behaviour of social workers. The law is clear that when a family is not happy with a council’s actions under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 then it should reply using the statutory children’s complaints procedure. Not doing so was fault and meant the Council did not handle Mr X’s complaint correctly.
21. I have considered whether we should investigate Mr X’s complaints. However, I have decided the Council should conduct a stage 2 investigation in line with its statutory duty. This is because Mr X was not afforded the independent oversight which the statutory procedure provides. He also states the family, and children continue to be without adequate support. This alleged ongoing injustice warrants investigation under the statutory procedure.

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Action

22. Within one month of the final decision the Council agreed to:
1. Apologise to Mr X to recognise the frustration caused by failing to investigate his complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. 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 I have recommended.
2. Arrange and start a stage 2 investigation into Mr X’s complaints under the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
3. Remind complaint handling staff by way of training or a briefing to progress complaints about the Council’s actions under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 under the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
23. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

24. I find fault causing injustice and the Council agreed to my recommendations to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman