Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about children services’ actions because it is unlikely we could achieve more than the Council’s proposal to start a Children Act stage two statutory complaints’ procedure investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council has failed to carry out a needs and carers assessment as recommended by a Tribunal.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X says the SEND Tribunal in June 2022 recommended that an updated social care assessment take place to include a carers' assessment of Mr & Mrs X's needs. And the findings of that assessment be included within their child’ D’s Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Mrs X says this did not happen. She complained to the Council.
6. The Council replied two weeks later. It said it had had 45 workings days to carry out the assessment. It agreed it was due. Mrs X says she remained unhappy and complained further.

Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure

7. 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.
8. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
9. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask 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.
10. 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.

Analysis

11. The Council say Mrs X did not respond directly to its email to her in November 2022 seeking further information about her complaint. It says other officers dealt with other aspects. It says she has recently made a new complaint. It proposes to combine both complaints and complete a stage two procedure.
12. The subject matter of Mrs X’s complaint falls within the Children Act statutory procedure. We expect complaints to complete that procedure before we will consider the complaint. We are at this stage unlikely to achieve a significantly different outcome than the Council’s proposal to start a stage two investigation now.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely we could achieve a significantly different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman