Summary: Mr B and Mr C complained about the Council’s actions during the child in need process. Mr B and Mr C said the Council’s actions caused them and their family distress and financial loss. We found fault with the Council for failing to consider Mr B and Mr C’s complaint under the children’s statutory complaint procedure. The Council has agreed to consider Mr B’s complaint at stage two of the procedure, and issue staff guidance.

The complaint

1. The complainants, who I will refer to as Mr B and Mr C, complained about the Council’s actions during the child in need process. Mr B and Mr C said the Council’s actions caused them and their family distress and financial loss.

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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 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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(i), as amended)
4. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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What I have and have not investigated

5. I investigated the way the Council dealt with Mr B and Mr C’s complaint. I did not investigate the substantive issues because they have not yet been properly considered by the Council.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered:
• Mr B and Mr C’s complaint and the information Mr C provided;
• documents supplied by the Council;
• the Ombudsman’s ‘children’s statutory complaints process: guide for practitioners’; and,
• relevant legislation and guidelines.
7. Mr B, Mr C and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and guidance

8. 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.
9. The procedure covers complaints about councils’ actions under part 3 and some of parts 4 and 5 of the Children Act 1989, and some adoption and special guardianship services. When deciding if a complaint should be considered under the procedure councils should check which part of the Act the service being complained about falls under. Councils should consider complaints about assessments and services provided under children in need using the procedure.
10. The guidance names people who can complain using the statutory procedure. This includes any child or young person (or a parent of his or someone who has parental responsibility for him) who is being looked after by the local authority or is not looked after by them but is in need.
11. The first stage of the statutory complaints procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
12. 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 (IO) and an independent person (IP) who is responsible for overseeing the investigation. Councils have up to 65 working days to complete stage two of the process from the date of request.
13. Once the IO has finished the report, a senior manager should act as Adjudicating Officer and consider the complaints, the IO’s findings, conclusions and recommendations, any report from the IP and the complainant’s desired outcomes. The purpose of adjudication is for the council to consider the reports and identify its response, its decision on each point of complaint, and any action to be taken.
14. If a complainant is unhappy with the result 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.
15. The guidance says once a complaint has entered stage one, the council must ensure the complaint continues to stages two and three if the complainant wishes, apart from in very limited circumstances when the council can make an early referral to the Ombudsman after stage two. 

What happened

16. This chronology includes key events in this case and does not cover everything that happened.
17. In August 2022, a referral was made to children’s services for Mr B’s two children, Mr C’s grandchildren. The Council decided the children were children in need and with their parents’ consent, started the child in need process.
18. Mr B and his family were unhappy with the Council’s actions and Mr C contacted their MP for help. Their MP contacted the Council on their behalf.
19. In February 2023, Mr C complained to the Council on his Mr B’s behalf. The Council spoke to Mr B. Mr B said he raised some of his concerns during the telephone call but made it clear this did not cover everything he was complaining about. During the conversation Mr B:
• expressed frustration at his children’s mother not adhering to the child in need process.
• said he wanted to be the main carer for his children.
• said he wanted his children’s mother to be drug tested.
• expressed he felt his children’s mother was coercive, manipulative and was blackmailing him and using the children against him.
20. The Council responded in writing at stage one of its corporate complaint procedure in February 2023. It said it would address the points raised in the complaint and during their telephone call:
• It advised the child in need process was voluntary and it could not make the mother of his children attend meetings or adhere to the safeguarding plan. It said if she withdrew consent for the child in need process and it felt the threshold for child protection was met, it would start this process.
• It told Mr B he could seek independent legal advice about wanting to be his children’s main carer.
• It said it could encourage his children’s mother to seek support for cannabis use, but it could not enforce this or a drug test.
• It told him to raise concerns about his children’s mother’s behaviour with the police.
21. The Council did not uphold his complaints. It said Mr B’s children would remain subject to child in need plans and the threshold for child protection was not met.
22. Mr C responded to the Council in March 2023. He said he disagreed with the content of its response, and it did not cover all parts of Mr B’s complaint. Mr B and his family provided the Council with a document detailing the Council’s actions they were unhappy with.
23. The Council held a meeting with Mr B and Mr C to discuss the complaint in April 2023. Mr B and Mr C told the Council it should have taken stronger action when his children’s mother did not adhere to the child in need process. He said he felt key information was not shared at child in need meetings and this affected the Council’s decision making.
24. The Council responded to Mr B at stage two of its corporate complaint procedure in May 2023. It addressed the same points as in its stage one complaint response. It did not uphold his complaints and referred him to the Ombudsman.

Analysis

25. Mr B and Mr C complained about the Council’s actions when Mr B’s children were on child in need plans. Functions provided under child in need come under part 3 of the Children Act 1989. Therefore, the Council should have considered Mr B and Mr C’s complaint under the children’s statutory complaint procedure and not doing so was fault. This fault denied them the opportunity for his complaint to be considered under a procedure designed to provide significant independence and detailed analysis of their concerns. To remedy this injustice, the Council will consider Mr B and Mr C’s complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaint procedure.

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Agreed action

26. Within one month of the final decision the Council will:
• Consider Mr B and Mr C’s complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaint procedure.
• Remind staff involved in social care complaints which social care functions should be considered under the children’s statutory complaints procedure and give them a copy of the Ombudsman’s ‘children’s statutory complaints process guide for practitioners’.
27. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

28. I have completed my investigation and uphold Mr B and Mr C’s complaint. They were caused an injustice by the actions of the Council. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy that injustice.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman