Summary: Ms X complained the Council did not properly deal with her application for its holiday activities and food programme. She also complained the Council did not effectively deal with her complaint about this matter. Ms X says the Council’s actions caused avoidable distress and led to the loss of opportunity for her children to take part in the activities. We found fault by the Council and the Council agreed to make a payment to recognise the injustice identified.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council did not properly deal with her application for its holiday activities and food programme. She also complains the Council did not effectively deal with her complaint about this matter. Ms X says her children lost the opportunity to take part in the activities over the summer holidays and says the Council’s actions caused her avoidable distress and financial loss.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have reviewed Ms X’s complaint and considered the information she provided.
5. I have made enquiries to the Council and considered the information it provided.
6. Ms X and the Council have had the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision. I have considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

The holiday activities and food programme

7. The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme was set up by the Government in 2018. Following successful pilot schemes between 2018 and 2020, the programme was rolled out to all upper tier local authorities in 2021. The scheme is funded by the Government and administered by councils. The eligibility criteria are set by the Government.
8. The aim is to provide healthy food and enriching activities for disadvantaged schoolchildren during the school holidays. The programme is for children who receive benefits-related free school meals, although children who are not eligible can pay to attend.

The Council’s complaints policy

9. The Council’s customer feedback and complaints policy defines a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction about:

• the Council’s action
• a lack of action
• the standard of a service

10. The policy says the Council may attempt to resolve issues with an ‘Early Resolution’ within five working days. If the complainant remains dissatisfied following this early intervention, or an Early Resolution is not considered to be appropriate, the complaint will be considered at stage one.
11. At stage one, the Council says it will provide a written response within 25 working days. If the complainant is still dissatisfied, they can ask for the complaint to be considered at stage two. The policy says the Council will provide a written response within 20 working days.

What happened

12. In July 2021, Ms X emailed the Council to register her interest in requesting placements for her children on the Council’s HAF programme. Ms X wanted her children to attend some of the activities arranged for the school summer holidays.
13. On 17 July 2021, the Council sent an automated email acknowledging Ms X’s application. It said it would check Ms X’s application and once authorised, would send her a registration number to use as part of the booking process for her preferred activity.
14. Ms X emailed the Council on 21 August 2021 and told it she had not received a registration number. Ms X asked the Council to explain the reasons for this.

Ms X’s complaint

15. Ms complained to the Council on 2 September 2021 and said she had not received a response or acknowledgement to her previous email.
16. Ms X contacted the Council again on 13 September 2021. She said the Council had still not contacted her following her correspondence about her application for the HAF programme.
17. The Council responded on 21 September 2021. It apologised that Ms X’s registration for the HAF programme, and her subsequent complaint were not dealt with at the time. The Council said that following receipt of an application, it manually checked the eligibility of applicants’ children. The Council said that in Ms X’s case, it had missed her application amongst the large number of applications received. The Council acknowledged receipt of Ms X’s subsequent correspondence but said it had not acted upon it due to the large volume of bookings using the same email inbox. The Council said the failure to deal with Ms X’s emails appeared to be human error and said it was looking to implement a fully web-based combined registration and booking system later in the year. The Council said this revised process should prevent similar errors happening again.
18. Ms X emailed the Council on 22 September 2021 and said she was not satisfied with the complaint response.
19. The Council replied on the same day and told Ms X it was unable to consider her complaint further within its complaints process. It apologised that Ms X’s children were unable to participate in the summer HAF programme, but said it was launching a further programme for the Christmas period in early December.
20. Ms X asked the Council to explain why it was unable to consider her complaint further. The Council replied and told Ms X it had looked into her complaint and identified what had occurred. It said it had taken steps to ensure the situation did not happen again and said all it could do was to offer its sincere apologies. The Council said it had provided its complaint response and said that further investigation was unlikely to result in a different outcome.
21. Ms X asked the Council if it was willing to consider offering compensation. The Council replied and told Ms X that although her children were eligible for the summer HAF programme, there was no guarantee they would have secured a place due to limits on availability. The Council said HAF activities are free, and it therefore did not consider compensation was appropriate.
22. Ms X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s response and brought her complaint to us.

What happened next

23. The Council contacted Ms X in November 2021 and said it would like to review her complaint. It said it had put measures in place to prevent a similar situation from happening again. The Council said it considered there was fault in the way it handled Ms X’s application in the summer and said its lack of communication fell below its expected standard. The Council apologised for this and for Ms X’s children missing out on the HAF activities. It offered Ms X £100 to address the injustice caused as a result and said it would ensure Ms X received the timetable of activities and registration information for the Christmas HAF programme.

Analysis – is there evidence of fault by the Council

24. Ms X complains the Council did not properly deal with her application for its HAF programme. The Council has acknowledged in its complaint response dated 21 September 2021, and in its email dated 22 November 2021 that it considers there was fault in the way it dealt with Ms X’s application.
25. I agree with the Council’s findings regarding this matter. It is positive the Council has itself identified the error that occurred, and I acknowledge its explanation that the large volume of applications contributed to Ms X’s application being missed as a result of human error. The Council says no other families were affected as a result of the error identified. However, it remains that the Council did not assess, and therefore did not properly deal with Ms X’s application at the time. This, and the Council’s subsequent delay in responding to Ms X’s enquiries about her application is fault by the Council.

The Council’s complaint handling

26. I have reviewed the complaint correspondence and the Council’s customer feedback and complaints policy.
27. Ms X made her complaint to the Council on 2 September 2021. The Council says it dealt with the complaint via its Early Resolution process, in line with its complaints policy. It provided its complaint response on 21 September 2021.
28. When Ms X told the Council she was not satisfied with the response, the Council said it was unable to consider the complaint further and said it did not consider compensation was appropriate. However, following our initial contact with the Council, it wrote to Ms X again on 22 November 2021 and offered a further apology and £100 as a remedy.
29. Although it is positive the Council reviewed its initial complaint decision, this was not carried out until after we contacted the Council to make initial enquiries regarding the complaint.
30. Having reviewed the complaint correspondence, the Council did not adhere to its customer feedback and complaints policy. The policy says it will attempt to resolve issues via the Early Resolution process within five working days. However, the Council’s response to Ms X as part of the Early Resolution process was more than five working days after the complaint was made.
31. I acknowledge the Council’s explanation that Ms X’s emails regarding her complaint were read but not acted upon, and that this was human error. Nevertheless, the policy is clear regarding the timeframe for providing a complaint response.
32. The Council’s policy also says if the complainant remains dissatisfied after the Early Resolution stage, the complaint will be considered at stage one. The evidence shows Ms X told the Council on 22 September 2021 that she was dissatisfied with the Council’s initial response. However, the Council told Ms X on the same date that it was unable to consider her complaint further. The Council’s actions regarding this, and the delay in providing a response at the Early Resolution stage are not in accordance with the Council’s customer feedback and complaints policy. This failure by the Council to adhere to its complaints policy is fault.

Injustice to Ms X

33. Having identified fault, I must consider if this caused a significant injustice to Ms X. She says the Council’s failure to deal with her complaint caused her avoidable distress as she felt the Council had acted unsympathetically and dismissively towards her. Ms X also says her children lost the opportunity to be considered for the HAF activities. This loss of opportunity is also an injustice to Ms X.
34. In its response to our enquiries, the Council has provided evidence of the steps taken to improve the HAF registration and booking process, which it says should prevent this situation from happening again. It is positive the Council has already taken action to improve the process, and I acknowledge the offer of £100 already made to Ms X as a remedy to her complaint. However, I do not consider the actions taken by the Council provide an adequate remedy to address the injustice identified.

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Agreed action

35. To address the injustice identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within one month of the final decision:

• Make a payment of £150 to Ms X in recognition of the distress caused and the loss of opportunity for her to request HAF placements for her children;
• Make a further payment of £100 in recognition of the loss of opportunity to Ms X’s children to attend the HAF activities. I recommend this payment is used for the children’s benefit;
• Make a further payment of £150 for the time and trouble to Ms X in bringing her complaint to us. This is because the Council did not progress the complaint through its own complaints process, and
• Remind staff to adhere to the Council’s customer feedback and complaints policy, with particular regard to the timescales and progression of a complaint.

The Council is required to provide evidence it has complied with the above recommended actions.

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Final decision

36. I have found fault by the Council and the Council has agreed to take the above action to resolve this complaint. I have therefore concluded my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman