The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Ms X complained about unreasonable delay during the Council’s investigation of her complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council was at fault. There was delay at stage two and three of the complaints process, which caused Ms X frustration, uncertainty and time and trouble trying to progress her complaint. The Council will pay Ms X £400 to acknowledge the injustice caused and review its procedures.
The complaint
Ms X complained about unreasonable delays during the Council’s investigation of her complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. She says the delays caused her frustration, uncertainty and time and trouble trying to progress her complaint. She wants the Council to acknowledge the delay and provide a financial remedy for the frustration and uncertainty caused.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I read Ms X’s complaint and spoke with her about it on the phone.
I considered information provided by the Council.
Ms X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered comments receive before making a final decision.
What I found
The Children’s statutory complaints procedure 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.
The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
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.
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.
If a council has investigated something under the statutory children’s complaint process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it unless we consider the investigation was flawed.
What happened Ms X is a young adult, who was looked after by the Council as a child. She complained to the Council in March 2019 about the care and support provided to her both as a child and as a care leaver. The Council accepted her complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
In April 2019, the Council provided a stage one response. Ms X was dissatisfied with the response and at the end of April, requested the Council escalate her complaint to stage two.
In July 2019, the Council appointed an investigator and independent person to oversee the investigation.
The investigator met with Ms X in August 2019 and sent her a statement of complaint to review and confirm if she agreed it was accurate. Ms X agreed the statement in November 2019.
The investigator completed the stage two investigation in January 2020. Ms X remained dissatisfied and in April 2020, asked the Council to escalate her complaint to stage three. The Council accepted the request but put the complaint on hold due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ms X contacted us in July 2021. She complained about unreasonable delay and said the Council was refusing to complete a stage three review. We contacted the Council and in September 2021, the Council agreed to hold a stage three panel.
The Council held the stage three panel and provided its stage three final response to Ms X in December 2021.
Ms X remained dissatisfied and brought her complaint back to us.
Analysis If a council has investigated something under the statutory children’s complaint process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it unless we consider the investigation was flawed. I have reviewed the investigation documents consider the investigation. The stage two investigation was sufficiently robust and considered all parts of Ms X’s complaint. The Council has now considered Ms X’s complaint under all three stages of the statutory procedure and as there is no evidence of flaws in the investigation, I will not re-investigate the substantive issues.
There was considerable delay during the complaint investigation process. Ms X requested escalation to stage two in April 2019, but the Council did not appoint an investigator until July. Between August and November 2019, the Council was awaiting confirmation from Ms X that she agreed with the complaint statement, so this delay was not Council fault. The Council sent Ms X its stage two adjudication letter in February 2020. Even discounting August to November, the Council took over 20 weeks to complete this stage. This is fault.
Ms X’s stage three escalation request was put on hold in April 2020, due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The onset of the pandemic in March 2020 caused significant disruption to many council services and so it is not unreasonable for the Council to have paused the process at this time. However, by Autumn 2020 I would have expected the Council to have made alternative arrangements and progressed the investigation. The Council did not do this. Ms X had to bring the complaint to us in July 2021, and, following our involvement, the Council agreed to hold the stage three panel, which took place in December 2021.
The guidance says Council’s must hold stage three panels within six weeks of a request. Even allowing for some delay due to the pandemic, the Council delayed by over 15 months arranging the stage three panel. This is fault. The delay has caused Ms X frustration, uncertainty and time and trouble involving us to ensure the Council held the panel and complied with its statutory duties.
Agreed action
Within one month of the final decision, the Council will pay Ms X £400 in recognition of the frustration, uncertainty and time and trouble caused by the delays at both stage two and stage three of its investigation into her complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
Within three months of the final decision, the Council will review its processes to consider whether any service improvements are needed to ensure complaints accepted under the statutory procedure are completed within the required timescales.
Final decision
I have completed my investigation. I have found fault and the Council has agreed action to remedy the injustice caused.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman