The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about children services’ actions. We have upheld Ms X’s complaint as the Council has now agreed to follow the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure.
The complaint
Ms 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 Ms 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.
Ms X complained to the Council in April 2024 that the Council had decided to remove support for her family. She says this support was assessed as needed by a child in need assessment and plan. The Council replied to her complaint in May 2024. It said the support had been temporary and a panel had decided it was no longer needed. It said it would carry out a review assessment.
Ms X in reply in May 2024 requested the Council escalate her complaint to stage two of the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure. The Council refused. It said it does not need to go to stage two. It said the stage one had replied to the complaint.
If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because the regulations do not allow the Council to refuse a stage two for the reasons it gave.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed to: Complete stage two within 65 working days of the date of this 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