Mr X complained that Newport Council had refused to allow him to escalate his social services complaint to the second stage of the statutory complaints procedure.
The Ombudsman decided that the Council had wrongly determined that all of Mr X’s complaint fell outside the statutory procedure. She said that this caused delays and frustration for Mr X. She decided to settle the complaint without an investigation.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to apologise to Mr X, acknowledge his complaint, set out the issues to be investigated, and agree to proceed with a stage 2 complaint investigation within 5 working days.