Summary: We uphold Mr X’s complaint, as the Council delayed considering his complaint at stage one of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to complete its stage two without further delay and make a payment for the delay so far.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I will call Mr X, say he complained to the Council in September 2021 about children services’ actions, and it delayed in replying.

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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 the final 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 Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
6. I considered Mr X’s comments on a draft version of my decision.

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My assessment

The statutory complaints’ procedure

7. 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.
8. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
9. 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.
10. 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.

What happened

11. Mr X complained in September 2021 about children services’ actions in relation to his role as a foster carer. The Council replied in March 2022 and confirmed it had done so within the Children Act statutory complaints’ process. It should have replied within 20 working days. Mr X is not satisfied by the stage one reply.
12. An investigation is likely to conclude the Council’s delay in replying is a failure to comply with the statutory complaints’ procedure. This is fault which has caused Mr X some time and trouble.

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Agreed action

13. The Council has agreed within 65 working days of my final decision to:
• Complete a stage two investigation and write to Mr X to inform him of the outcome, ensuring it provides him appropriate information about his rights under the process.
• Pay him £150 to reflect the delays in the complaints process so far.

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Final decision

14. I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman