Summary: Miss B complained the Council has failed to support her family following the outcome of the complaints process and despite that it agreed to take action. There was no fault by the Council. It has reviewed its financial support, offered to meet with Miss B and given her details of who to contact should she want to take up the offer of support.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains that the Council has failed to provide all the remedies recommended by the Stage Three review panel. In particular, the Council:
• Failed to meet with her to agree the financial support and what the Council had and should pay her in terms of allowances for the children.
• Failed to offer agreed assessment and further support including respite.

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What I have and have not investigated

2. We investigated an earlier complaint by Miss B about how the Council supported her and her family. Our investigation found that the statutory complaints process has found fault by the Council, and it had agreed to remedy the injustice its failings had caused to Miss B and her family. On this basis, we did not recommend the Council take further action. I have not investigated again the statutory investigation or any of the matters Miss B had previously brought to us.
3. However, Miss B later complained that the Council had not taken the action it had agreed to. She complained to the Ombudsman and so I have investigated whether the Council has provided the remedies it agreed to.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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

6. I considered the information provided by Miss B and discussed the issues with her. I considered the information provided by the Council including its file documents. I also considered the law and guidance set out below. Both parties had the opportunity to comment on a draft of this statement. I have considered all the comments I have received.

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What I found

The Children’s social care services statutory complaints process

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. 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. 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.
9. The independent investigator, at stage two, and the panel at stage three, can make recommendations. The Council should consider these and decide if and how it will implement them.
10. If a council has investigated something under the statutory children’s complaint process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it unless we consider the investigation was flawed. However, we may look at whether a council properly considered the findings and recommendations of the independent investigation.

What happened

11. This is a brief summary of what happened. I have not set out in detail the family history or our earlier investigation.
12. In 2009, the Council removed Miss B’s younger siblings from their parents’ care under emergency protection orders. The three siblings were to be placed with foster carers but instead moved in with Miss B who was 18 at the time. Miss B said she did not want her siblings going into the care system. Miss B was about to complete an induction in her profession, but decided to take on the care of the children. She says the Social Worker had told her that it would be as if she was a foster carer and this would be her new career.
13. The Council provided some support to the family, but in 2020 Miss B made a formal complaint to the Council that it had not supported the family properly. The statutory investigation upheld parts of Miss B’s complaint. It said:
• the Council had not properly assessed Miss B when it placed the children with her, nor had it discussed alternative options with her.
• the court had recommended that the Council make the children subject to care orders so that the family would have the correct support. Although the Council had made regular payments, the investigation could not establish whether this was in accordance with the original court order. In particular, it had not made the holiday or birthday payments that a foster carer would receive.
14. The Council accepted the findings and that it had not assessed the family in 2009. It said this ‘meant that opportunities were lost to identify the emotional, practical and financial support which you and children needed at the time and for the future’. It said it had made improvements to how and when it does assessments. However, the Council understood that Ms B still felt that she had not been heard and that the Council had not properly considered the emotional impact on the family.
15. The Council agreed it should:
• Apologise to Miss B and her siblings.
• Review the payments it had made to Miss B and make up any payments she would have been entitled to had it treated her as a foster carer.
• Make payments to Miss B in recognition of the cost of moving her into and out of supported accommodation; and that it had not processed her complaint properly.
• Explain why it did not fully assess her, or explore all the options with her in 2009.
• Offer Miss B and the children support and advice.
• arrange peer support for Ms B around parenting teenagers.
• arrange support for Ms B and her siblings regarding contact with one another, and support for Ms B in managing contact between a younger sibling and their father.
• arrange bereavement counselling for Ms B and carer support.
16. The complaints process was completed in July 2021. Miss B complained to the Ombudsman that the Council had not properly addressed her complaint to it. She says the Council still has not understood the impact on her family, not just of its shortcomings in 2009, but also when she asked it for help in later years. Miss B explained that the Council did not help her with contact with her mother, and as she had since died, this now cannot be put right; nor did it offer financial support. She also was having difficulty getting the correct payments from the Council despite its promises.
17. Miss B asked the Council to reconsider its position. The Council offered Miss B and the children an assessment of their support needs, and a further payment of £6,000.
18. In July 2022, our investigation found that the statutory investigation had properly addressed Miss B’s complaints, and the action the Council had agreed to take was a reasonable way to remedy the injustice to her and the family. The Council offered to meet with Miss B to hear her experience and to explain the remedy actions to her. It also said that it would allocate named officers to deal with the financial situation.

The financial support

19. Following the statutory investigation and as agreed, the Council contacted Miss B setting out that she had previously declined its offers to meet to review the financial situation. It reiterated that she should send information about the payments she thought the Council had missed to a named officer.
20. The Council received the complete information from Miss B on 5 December 2022. In January, Miss B contacted the Ombudsman again because she had not heard from the Council. The Council reviewed all the information and in February 2023, it decided that it was paying her more than it should due to her benefit income. However, it would honour the current rate and continue payments.
21. There was no fault by the Council here. It gave Miss B named officers to deal with as agreed, and completed a review to make sure the payments to support the family are correct.

Assessment of the family’s needs and ongoing support including respite

22. As a result of the statutory complaints process, the Council agreed to offer Miss B bereavement counselling, parenting support and help with contact between the younger siblings, and their father and half siblings.
23. The Council has a post order team that supports families in foster placements. This specialist team had contacted Miss B in July and December 2021, and January and August 2022 to discuss her needs. Miss B found it too difficult to engage with the Council. It posted information to her to make sure that if she wanted to contact the Council, she had the right details. The Council also sent Miss B details of bereavement services. It says that its ‘post order team’ will still support the family if Miss B wants this.
24. The Council’s records show that in January 2023, Miss B complained that despite the actions the Council had agreed, she still felt it was still not supporting the family. The financial situation was resolved soon after. However, at that time Miss B also mentioned that the Council had not supported her around contact between the siblings she cared for and their half siblings who live elsewhere.
25. In May 2023 the Council gave Miss B the contact details for the half-siblings social workers and invited her to contact them if she wanted to discuss contact.
26. I recognise that Miss B feels the Council has not fully understood or remedied the impact on her family of how it handled matters when the children came to live with her, and how it supported them after that. However, this has been fully investigated by the independent complaints process. The Council accepted the panel’s findings and has progressed the agreed remedies as far as it could.
27. I also have to recognise that Miss B finds it very hard to engage with the Council due to the very grave difficulties she has endured. It did offer to meet with Miss B to discuss the support she needed. The Council also gave Miss B clear information about who to contact when and if she felt able. Given the very difficult circumstances, this is a reasonable way for the Council to handle its contact with Miss B.

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Final decision

28. I have completed my investigation. There was no fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman