The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about children services’ actions. We have upheld Miss X’s complaint as the Council has now agreed to follow the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure.
The complaint
Miss X, says the Council failed to properly reply to her children services’ complaint.
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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
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 result 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.
Miss X complained in September 2023 to the Council about children support services for her child. The Council replied in January 2024. It signposted Miss X to us if she was not happy with its reply.
If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because the subject matter of Miss X’s complaint falls within the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure and the Council has not used this procedure or signposted Miss X to stage two of it.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed to: complete a Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure stage two investigation within 65 working days of the date of this final decision and notify Miss X of their rights under the procedure.
Final decision
We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman