The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Ms B complained that the Council failed to properly support her as a foster carer when her first foster child was placed with her and delayed in making payments to her. She said this caused her a great deal of stress and resulted in the placement breaking down. We found the Council was at fault in failing to accept Ms B’s complaint into its corporate complaints procedure. To remedy the injustice caused by this, the Council has agreed to investigate the complaint.
The complaint
Ms B complains that the Council failed to properly support her when her first foster child was placed with her and failed to provide her with necessary information at the start of the placement. She also says it delayed in making payments to her. Ms B says these failings caused her a great deal of stress and resulted in the placement breaking down.
Ms B also says that, following the breakdown of the placement, she was treated unfairly by the Council which made allegations against her and failed to give her adequate time to respond.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) 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 have considered all the information provided by Ms B together with information provided by the Council.
Ms B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered the comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
The 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 statutory guidance states that some people automatically qualify to make a complaint. These include a child who is being looked after by the council, a council foster carer and ‘such other people as the local authority consider has sufficient interest in the child or young person’s welfare to warrant his representations being considered by them”.
The Council’s corporate complaints procedure Under the Council’s corporate complaints procedure, a complaint will be considered at stage 1 by an appropriate officer within the service complained of. The Council aims to provide a response within 20 working days. However, it is at the discretion of the complaints manager to escalate a complaint directly to stage 2 they consider the situation requires it.
If the complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation into their complaint, or the way the investigating officer has dealt with it, they can request that the complaint be escalated to stage 2.
The Council may decide to investigate the complaint at stage 2 or refer the complainant to the Ombudsman.
If the complaint progresses to stage 2, either the complaints manager or a senior manager within the department complained of (who has not previously been involved in the complaint, will consider the complaint. The Council aims to respond within 25 working days.
If the complainant is not satisfied with the Council’s stage 2 response, they can complain to us.
Key facts Ms B was approved as a foster carer for the Council in March 2021.
In April 2021 the Council placed a teenager with Ms B.
Ms B felt out of her depth and found it difficult to cope with the child’s needs. She requested support from the Council. The placement broke down and ended in an unplanned way in June 2021.
Ms B complained to the Council that it had not provided her with proper documentation or support and that it had delayed in making foster carer payments.
In August 2021 the fostering service sent Ms B a lengthy document recommending her de-registration as a foster carer. She says she was only given two days to respond.
In September 2021 the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) and supervising social worker met with Ms B to prepare an independent report for the fostering panel.
In November 2021 the fostering panel considered reports prepared by the IRO and the supervising social worker. It decided Ms B’s approval as a foster carer for the Council should be terminated.
In January 2022 Ms B again complained to the Council about the lack of support and information she received during the placement. She said she did not receive adequate training and was not given necessary information at the start of the placement. She said she should have received a placement plan, a care plan and a support plan but these were not provided. Ms B also said she had made repeated requests for support and coping strategies which were ignored as a result of which she became very stressed and struggled to cope. She also complained that the Council failed to pay her foster carer payment and allowances until six weeks after the placement began despite repeated requests, causing further stress.
The Council refused to investigate Ms B’s complaint on the basis that the complaints process could not revisit or review any matters that had been considered as part of the review process. Ms B argued that her complaint about the inadequacy of the support and information she received was separate from the decision to de-register her as a foster carer and should be considered separately. The Council did not agree. Ms B complained to the Ombudsman.
Analysis Ms B is clear that she does not wish to challenge the Council’s decision to de-register her as a foster carer. She only wishes to complain about the way she was treated by the Council.
The Council says an investigation was completed by the IRO and Ms B was given ample opportunity to discuss any concerns about the support she received within that process.
I do not consider this is an adequate reason to refuse to accept Ms B’s complaint. The Council should have separated the issues raised by Ms B and considered them under its corporate complaints procedure alongside the formal IRO process relating to the decision to de-register her as a foster carer.
I do not accept the Council’s argument that Ms B’s complaints about the way she was treated could have been appropriately dealt with under the IRO procedure. These issues are separate from matters considered by the IRO whose report was in relation to whether Ms B should be de-registered as a foster carer. Although the report referred to Ms B’s concerns about lack of support and information, the IRO and fostering panel do not consider matters from a complaints perspective. Their roles are entirely different. I consider Ms B has the right for her concerns to be considered as a complaint even if she has chosen not to challenge the decision to de-register her as a foster carer. I find she has not had her complaints properly addressed.
I find the Council’s refusal to accept the complaint into the complaints process is fault and causes Ms B injustice as she has not yet received a response from the Council to her complaint and has been put to time and trouble in complaining to the Ombudsman.
However, I accept the Council’s argument that an investigation under the statutory procedure would not be appropriate in this case because the issues Ms B raises concern injustice to herself, rather than to the child. The Children Act 1989 states that foster carers can complain using the statutory process but only “about the discharge by the authority of any of their [qualifying functions] in relation to the child”. Ms B is not complaining about matters relating to the Council’s qualifying functions in relation to the child but about how she was treated since she was approved as a foster carer, during the placement and after the placement ended when allegations were made against her.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed that, within one month, it will begin an investigation into Ms B’s complaints under its corporate complaints process to decide if there was fault and injustice and, if so, provide a remedy. The Council will write to Ms B to inform her of the outcome, ensuring it provides her with appropriate information about her rights under the process.
Final decision
I find the Council was at fault in failing to investigate Ms B’s complaint under its corporate complaints procedure.
I have completed my investigation on the basis that the Council has agreed to implement the recommended remedy.
Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate I have not investigated the substantive issues raised in Ms B’s complaint because they should be investigated by the Council under its corporate complaints procedure. If Ms B is unhappy with the outcome of that investigation, she can make a further complaint to us and we will consider whether we should investigate.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman