Miss X complained that the Council failed to meet her son and her child’s needs. Miss X was also unhappy that a stage 2 investigation was not carried out in a timely manner after a request was put to the Council.
The Ombudsman was concerned that the Council had not escalated Miss X’s complaint to a stage 2 investigation (under the Social Services Complaints Regulations) when requested, and contacted the Council to resolve this. The Ombudsman therefore asked the Council to issue Miss X with an apology for not escalating her complaint on request, and to appoint an Independent Investigation Officer to undertake a stage 2 investigation.
The Council agreed by 28 February to: (i) apologise to Miss X for failing to escalate her complaint and (ii) to escalate Miss X’s complaint to stage 2 and to appoint an Independent Investigation Officer to undertake the investigation.