Ms A complained that she was dissatisfied with Flintshire County Council’s (“the Council’s”) social services complaint response, and that aspects of her complaint remained unanswered.
The Ombudsman found that the Council failed to inform Ms A of her right to escalate her complaint to the second stage of the statutory complaints procedure. She decided to settle the complaint without investigation.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to apologise to Ms A, open a stage 2 complaint investigation, and review the information it provides to complainants about the social services complaints procedure. The Council agreed to undertake the action within 1 month.