The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: I have ended my investigation into this complaint. The Council is currently investigating Mr X’s concerns under the children’s statutory complaints procedure and should be allowed to complete this process.
The complaint
Mr X complained to the Council about the actions of its children’s services. The Council accepted his complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure but he says the Council has delayed investigating his complaint which has caused him distress. He wants the Council to investigate his complaint and be honest when it makes mistakes.
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 another body better placed to consider this complaint, it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I read Mr X’s complaint and spoke with him about it on the phone.
I considered information provided by the Council.
I considered the Children’s statutory complaint procedure statutory guidance Children's social care: getting the best from complaints .
Mr X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
Background information The children’s statutory complaints procedure There is a formal procedure, set out in law, which council must follow to investigate certain types of complaints about children’s services. It involves three stages: Stage 1 - Local resolution by the Council, to be completed within 10 working days. If the complainant remains dissatisfied, they can escalate the complaint to stage 2.
Stage 2 – an investigation by an independent investigator who will prepare a detailed report and findings. The investigation is overseen by an independent person to ensure its impartiality. The Council then issues an adjudication letter which sets out its response to the findings. The stage 2 investigation should be completed within 65 working days. If the complainant remains dissatisfied, they can escalate the complaint to stage 3.
Stage 3 – an independent panel to consider the outstanding issues. The review panel is designed to listen to all parties, consider the adequacy of the stage 2 investigation, reach findings on each of the complaints being reviewed and if complaints are upheld, make recommendations for any personal remedy for the complainant or to improve Council services.
Councils should progress a complaint through at all three stages of the procedure, if this is the complainant’s wish. If a person remains unhappy with the stage 3 outcome, they can bring the complaint to the Ombudsman for further consideration. The Ombudsman normally expects councils to be given the opportunity to complete the full statutory children’s complaint procedure before deciding to investigate ourselves. If we do decide to then do so, we will not normally reinvestigate the matters unless we decide the statutory procedure was flawed. Instead, we can look at whether the council properly considered findings and recommendations of the independent investigation.
Where appropriate, a Council may arrange for conciliation, mediation or other services to help resolve matters.
The guidance says best practice should ensure those who make complaints have their concerns resolved swiftly, and wherever possible by the people who provide the service locally.
What happened In January 2022, Mr X complained to the Council about the actions of its children’s services. In summary, he complained: The Council provided false information about him to another organisation; The Council did not respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns he raised about his child in November 2021; The Council had not told him about other safeguarding concerns previously raised about his child; The Council had discriminated against him and shown bias towards his child’s mother.
The Council investigated his complaint and provided a stage 1 response in February 2022. It found some fault in its service and apologised to him for this. It said it felt a meeting with Mr X would be beneficial so the Council could inform him of its involvement with his child. It also told Mr X how it planned to improve its service going forward.
Mr X was dissatisfied with the response and asked to escalate his complaint.
The Council asked Mr X to clarify which points he remained dissatisfied with.
The Council offered Mr X a service manager review of the complaint response and Mr X accepted this.
At the beginning of March, the Council confirmed with Mr X that the service manager was reviewing the complaint response and that the Council would be in touch to arrange the meeting offered in the stage 1 response.
In the middle of March, the Council sent Mr X the service manager review.
At the end of March, the Council met with Mr X and his advocate to discuss its involvement with his child and to try and resolve his concerns.
Mr X remained dissatisfied and in April 2022 told the Council he was considering court action.
Mr X confirmed he wanted his complaint escalating to stage 2 of the statutory children’s complaints procedure and the Council accepted this request. It appointed an independent investigator and independent person in May and Mr X met with them and confirmed his complaint statement in June.
Mr X brought his complaint to us in July 2022 as he was dissatisfied with the Council’s actions and that his complaint had not yet been resolved.
The stage 2 investigation is currently ongoing. Mr X told us he was dissatisfied with the Council’s delay accepting his complaint at stage 2.
Analysis The statutory guidance says good practice should ensure those who make complaints have their concerns resolved swiftly, and wherever possible by the people who provide the service locally.
The Council is currently investigating his complaint at stage 2 of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council is best placed to investigate his concerns and should be allowed to complete the statutory process. If Mr X is unhappy with either the outcome or the adequacy of the stage 2 investigation, he can escalate his complaint to stage 3 to raise these matters with the independent review panel. If he remains unhappy after the stage 3, he can bring his complaint back to us for further consideration.
Mr X is unhappy that there was delay accepting his complaint at stage 2. There was a two-month delay between his original escalation request in mid-February and the Council’s acceptance to escalate his complaint in mid-April. However, during this time the Council completed a service manager review of his complaint and met with him to try and resolve his concerns. The Council has discretion to try and resolve the complaint by other means if it considers this appropriate. Mr X agreed to the service manager review and to the meeting. It tried to resolve Mr X’s complaint by these means, before accepting his escalation request to stage 2.
Final decision
I have ended my investigation into this complaint. The Council is better placed to consider this complaint and has confirmed it is currently investigating his complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. Mr X has the option to complain to us again if dissatisfied with the outcome of that investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman