The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: I uphold this complaint because the Council was at fault in failing 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, acts as property and affairs deputy for a child. She complains, on his behalf, that care services provided to his family for him are inadequate and have not been assessed since 2017. She further complains that the Council has failed to respond properly to her 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 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.
The complainant had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered her comments before making a final decision.
My assessment
Mrs B complains about the outcome of her complaint. We have taken no view on the substantive matters or the content of the Council’s response. However, if we were to investigate this complaint to the Ombudsman, it is likely we would find fault causing injustice.
The evidence Mrs B has provided shows the Council has responded to her complaint under its corporate complaints procedure. However, as the complaint relates to social care service provision for a child, it falls to be considered under the statutory procedure for children’s services complaints. The Council failed to offer Mrs B the opportunity to escalate the complaint to Stage 2 of this procedure, thereby denying her the independent scrutiny the procedure provides.
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 two months of the date of this decision.
Final decision
I uphold 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