Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed progressing a complaint to stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has now agreed to resolve the complaint by completing its investigation without further delay.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council changed his stage one complaint and failed to respond to him during the stage two process of the children’s statutory complaint procedure. He also says the Council did not address his concerns about inaccurate information used in a Section 47 enquiry. Mr X says this caused frustration, distress and uncertainty. He wants the Council to carry out a proper and fair investigation.

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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.

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 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. The Council acknowledged Mr X’s request to escalate his complaint to stage two in May 2026. It should have responded by August 2026.The Council did not respond within the statutory timescales. The Council has allocated the complaint to an investigator and an independent person and invited Mr X to engage with its process.
12. I understand Mr X claims there is a deadlock situation. The Ombudsman expects a complainant to have completed the complaints procedure but it may accept a complaint where there has been an unreasonable delay or the council is clearly not progressing the complaint. At this stage the Council is better placed to deal with Mr X’s complaint.
13. 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 considering the complaint and issuing Mr X with a stage two response.
14. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused to Mr X. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will carry out the below actions within four weeks of this decision:
• Work with Mr X to decide the scope of his complaint
• Begin a stage two investigation within one month of this decision
• Advise Mr X how he can escalate his complaint further.

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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.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman