London Borough of Croydon (25 017 906)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delay to the second stage of a children’s statutory complaint. This is because the Council have already remedied the injustice in its complaint response.
The complaint
- Mr and Mrs X complain the Council delayed stage 2 of their children’s statutory complaint.
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. 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 s34H(1), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainants and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr and Mrs X escalated their complaint to stage 2 in July 2025. The Council accepted this at stage 2 in September. In October Mr and Mrs X met with the independent officer and agreed to place the matter on hold for 15 days to allow the Council to respond.
- In November, the Council gave a comprehensive response providing an apology and an explanation of its approach. It offered a financial remedy, a meeting with Mr and Mrs X and invited them to escalate their complaint to stage 2.
- As Mr and Mrs X had already brought their complaint to the Ombudsman due to the delay by the Council, they paused the complaint process.
- We will not investigate as it would be reasonable to expect Mr and Mrs X to complete the complaint procedure with the Council, and the Council already remedied the delays and distress caused by poor communication, which was higher than the Ombudsman would achieve.
- The Council offered to meet with Mr and Mrs X, offered counselling and said they could escalate their complaint to stage 2. It is now open to Mr and Mrs X to accept that offer and continue their complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman