WATE-(4) Response Historic

Define specific duties for Children's Complaints Officers, prioritising child's best interests

Recommendation

Amongst the duties of the Children's Complaints Officer should be: (a) to act in the best interests of the child; (b) on receiving a complaint, to see the affected child and the complainant, if it is not the affected child; (c) thereafter to notify and consult with appropriate line managers about the further handling of the complaint, including: (i) any necessary interim action in relation to the affected child, the complainant and the person who is the subject of complaint, including informal resolution of the complaint, if that is appropriate; (ii) consideration of the established procedures to be implemented, such as child protection and disciplinary procedures and including any necessary involvement of the police and/or other agencies; (d) to ensure that recourse to an independent advocacy service is available to any complainant or affected child who wishes to have it; (e) to keep a complete record of all complaints received and how they are dealt with, including the ultimate outcome; (f) to report periodically to the Director of Social Services on complaints received, how they have been dealt with and the results.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
No formal government response has been recorded for this recommendation. No independent verification has been carried out.
Sources
Based on tracking data in the inquiry database.
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by baseline-data-v1 on 26 May 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Historic

No government response recorded.

Source
Report Waterhouse Inquiry — Final Report 16 Feb 2000
Recommendation age 26.3 yrs
Last formal update No formal updates