Summary: We have discontinued our investigation into the Council’s handling of Mr X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to issue its complaint response to Mr X without further delay. It will also offer him a symbolic financial remedy for his injustice. This means there is no good reason for us to be prematurely involved with the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council has delayed its response to his complaint about its children’s social care service.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant guidance.
4. 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

5. The statutory guidance, ‘Getting the best from complaints’, sets out a three-stage procedure for complaints about certain aspects of children’s social care. I refer to this as ‘the statutory procedure’.
6. Parents can use this procedure to complain about their children’s social care assessment and support.
7. The benefit of the statutory procedure is that the parent gets an independent investigation of their complaint (at stage 2), and, if they wish, an independent review (at stage 3).
8. If a complainant wants to progress their complaint through all three stages of the statutory procedure, then they have the right to do so.
9. The Ombudsman normally expects councils (and complainants) to follow the full statutory procedure before involving us. A complaint can only be referred to the Ombudsman earlier if, following a robust stage two investigation, all significant parts of the complaint have been upheld.
10. Councils have 25 working days to respond to stage two complaints. However, in certain circumstances (such as if the complaint is particularly complicated), this can be extended to a maximum of 65 working days.
11. Mr X says he made his stage 2 complaint in mid-September 2025. The Council disagrees and says his September correspondence was sent to an email address which he was not allowed to contact (as he is subject to action under the Council’s unreasonable behaviour policy). It says he made his stage 2 complaint properly in early October.
12. Depending on the date of the complaint, the Council should have responded to
    Mr X either by mid-December or early January. Instead, the investigation remains ongoing.
13. It appears that this delay may have been at least partly caused by circumstances outside the Council’s control, including the withdrawal of the original investigating officer. The Council has also provided evidence that Mr X has refused to engage with the investigating officer at points throughout the process. But this does not affect the Council’s statutory timeliness duty.
14. Although we cannot normally investigate complaints until a council has had an opportunity to investigate and reply, we can (and do) get involved during the statutory children’s procedure when there is significant ongoing delay. Our aim in doing so is to re-engage councils and complainants in the procedure.
15. In Mr X’s case our early involvement is not proportionate. This is because:
• The Council does not need to be re-engaged in the statutory procedure. It is already taking steps to complete its stage 2 investigation.
• The Council has agreed that it will issue its adjudication to Mr X without further delay (within 65 working days of the date the new investigating officer was appointed).
• The Council has also agreed that, when it issues its adjudication, it will make a symbolic payment to Mr X to recognise any injustice which may have arisen from the delay.
16. If the Council causes further significant delay to its stage 2 adjudication (beyond the deadline it has agreed above), Mr X can come back to us about the delay. Otherwise, he will need to wait until he has received the Council’s final, stage 3 response (unless the early referral criteria in the statutory guidance apply).

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Decision

17. I have discontinued my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman