Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed considering a complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has now agreed to resolve the complaint by considering the complaint at stage one of the procedure and responding without further delay. It will also apologise and offer to make a payment to the complainant to remedy the time and trouble they have been too.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained to the Council about how it dealt with matters prior to, during and after she was in care. Miss X asked the Ombudsman to intervene after the Council failed to respond to her complaint.

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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. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

The statutory complaints procedure

6. 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.
7. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
8. 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.
9. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome 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.
10. The statutory guidance says that If a complaint has entered stage one the local authority is obliged to ensure the complaint proceeds to stages two and three if the complaint requests this.

Assessment

11. Miss X complained to the Council in June 2023. In December the Council acknowledged her complaint which it is considering under the statutory complaint’s procedure.
12. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely we would find the Council at fault. This is because there has been a delay in the Council considering the complaint and issuing Miss X with a stage one response. This has meant Miss X has been to some significant time and trouble pursuing her complaint.
13. We therefore asked the Council to complete its investigation within the statutory timeframe advising Miss X how she can escalate her complaint further. We also asked the Council to apologise to Miss X for the delay and offer to make a payment to her of £150 to remedy the time and trouble she has been too pursuing her complaint.
14. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and has agreed with our recommendation. It will therefore write to Miss X within one month to apologise for the delays and to offer a £150 payment. It will consider her complaint at stage one without further delay.

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Final decision

15. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing an appropriate remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman