The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We uphold Mr X’s complaint that the Council delayed in considering 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, complains about the Council’s 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 Mr 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 Mr X complained in March 2021 about children services’ actions, in particular a failure to properly consider his allegations his child was at risk or in need of support. The Council replied at Stage One of its complaints process. The Council acknowledged a Stage Two complaint at the end of March 2021. In March 2022 it confirmed an Investigating Officer and Independent Person has been appointed under the Children Act statutory complaints procedure. Stage Two has still not been completed.
An investigation is likely to find fault causing Mr X an injustice because the Council has failed to meet the requirements of the statutory Children Act procedure.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed within 65 workings days of this decision to: Complete stage two of the Children Act procedure and inform Mr X of his rights under the procedure.
Pay Mr X £250 for the delays so far. This is in addition to the £100 it has already paid him.
Final decision
I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman