The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We have upheld this complaint that the Council was at fault in declining to use the statutory procedure for children’s services complaints to address the complainant’s concerns.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs B, complains that the Council has failed to properly investigate her complaints about the service it has provided to her as a carer and the children in her care. Specifically, she says the Council has addressed her complaints through its corporate procedure, rather than escalating them to Stage 2 of the statutory procedure for children's services complaints, as she has requested.
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) Under our information sharing agreement, we will share the final decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
If we were to investigate this complaint, it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice. Issues Mrs B has raised relate to the care of a looked-after child and would therefore fall to be considered under the statutory procedure. By failing to use the statutory procedure, the Council has denied Mrs B the independent scrutiny of her complaint to which she is entitled.
We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by its actions by agreeing to consider Mrs B’s complaint at Stage 2 of the statutory procedure.
Agreed action
To its credit, the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint and will initiate Stage 2 within one month of the date of this decision.
Final decision
We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy to the injustice caused to Mrs B.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman