The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has delayed dealing with a complaint about safeguarding. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault due to the exceptional circumstances involved.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will call Ms X, complained to the Council about how it dealt with a safeguarding concern about her granddaughter. Ms X asked the Ombudsman to investigate after the Council failed to provide her with a response to her complaint.
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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In December 2021 Ms X complained to the Council that she had reported a safeguarding concern over the telephone but no action had been taken. The Council responded at stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure, but dissatisfied Ms X asked it to be escalated to stage two.
The Council allocated Ms X’s complaint to an investigator, who agreed a statement of complaint with Ms X. In February, the investigator told Ms X that the person she had raised the safeguarding concerns with was on long term leave and was expected back in June so there would be a delay in the Council responding to her complaint.
In June the investigator told Ms X that the person was still on leave and was now back in November. The Council told Ms X that if she wished the investigator could complete their investigation based on the evidence available, otherwise they had no option to wait until the person she made the referral to returned to work.
I will not investigate this complaint. Whilst I acknowledge the frustration the delays have caused Ms X, there is insufficient fault in how the Council has dealt with the matter, given the exceptional circumstances that have caused the delay. The Council has also provided updates to Ms X and has given her the option of it proceeding with the evidence available.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman