The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the delay in the Council’s handling of her complaints under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Ms X by the fault accepted.
The complaint
Ms X complains about the delay in the Council’s handling of her complaints under the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because there has been significant delay in the Council dealing with Ms X’s complaint at stag two.
Ms X first requested the Council escalate her complaint to stage two in June 2023. The Council has 25 working days to complete the whole stage two process, including the adjudication, from the start date. The start date is defined as the date the complainant requests stage two. An extension of 65 working days (13 weeks) is permitted.
This means the Council should have completed the stage two process by September 2023. The Council confirmed it issued its stage two adjudication response in late June 2024. This is a delay of just over nine months. I am satisfied this delay will have caused Ms X distress and frustration.
We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by its actions by: Apologising for the injustice caused to Ms X by the identified delay.
Make a payment of £50 for each month of delay. I have rounded up the delay to 10 months, making a total payment of £500.
Agreed action
To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within four weeks of the final decision.
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 Ms X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman