The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We uphold Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to consider his complaint within its children statutory complaints’ procedure. The Council has agreed to do so without further delay.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I will call Mr X, says the Council has failed to reply properly to a complaint made to it, in April 2022, about children services’ actions.
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 Ms X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
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 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.
What happened An advocate for Mr X, who is a former looked after child, complained in April 2021, about children services actions. They say the Council should have classified him as a looked after child and provided him with the help, support and housing as a looked after child is entitled to. They say that support should still be being provided and the fault is continuing.
The Council replied in April and June, and refused the request for a statutory complaint. It said that matters were too old and there were alternative legal routes for their claims.
An investigation is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice, because this complaint should have been replied to within the statutory Children Act procedure.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed within 20 working days of my final decision to: Complete a stage one investigation and writes to Mr X to inform him of the outcome, ensuring it provides him appropriate information about his rights under the process.
Final decision
I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman