Summary: Mrs X complained she waited over a year for the Council to complete a child in need assessment for her disabled child, Y. She complained she had four allocated social workers and did not receive the assessment until one year after it was originally allocated to the social work team. Mrs X said Y was unable to access appropriate support and this impacted his health, as well as the rest of the family’s health. There was fault in the way the Council delayed completing Y’s assessment and did not complete the children’s statutory complaints process. Mrs X was put to time and trouble to complain. Mrs X was frustrated by the delay and Y’s needs were not assessed in a timely manner to ensure his needs were met. The Council should apologise, make a financial payment, conduct a review to identify the causes of the delays in this complaint and produce an action plan to address the causes of the delays identified.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained she waited over a year for the Council to complete a child in need assessment for her disabled child, Y. She complained she had four allocated social workers and did not receive the assessment until one year after it was originally allocated to the social work team. Mrs X said Y was unable to access appropriate support and this impacted his health, as well as the rest of the family’s health.

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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)
4. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I read Mrs X’s complaint and spoke to her about it on the phone.
6. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
7. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background information

Child in need

8. The Children Act 1989, section 17, requires councils to safeguard and promote the welfare of ‘children in need’ in their area, including disabled children, by providing appropriate services for them. All disabled children are regarded as ‘children in need’ and entitled to an assessment under section 17.
9. The Chronically Sick and Disabled Person’s Act (CSDPA) 1970, section 2, requires councils, when undertaking an assessment of a child under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, to consider whether it is necessary to provide support of the type referred to in section 2.
10. Services which can be provided under section 2 CSDPA include:

• practical assistance in the home including home based short breaks / respite care;
• recreational / educational facilities including community based short breaks; and
• travel and other assistance.

11. The expectation of ‘Working Together’ is that an assessment which identifies significant needs will generally lead to the provision of services, but it not the case that there is a duty to meet every assessed need. Whether a service is required is dependent on the nature and extent of the need assessed and the consequences of not providing a service. Councils may use eligibility criteria and take into account their available resources when providing services under section 17 of the Children Act.
12. If a council is satisfied it is ‘necessary’ to provide support services under section 2 of the CSDPA then services must be provided regardless of the council’s resources.
13. Assessments should take account of the needs of the whole family. While some services may be offered directly to the disabled child, services may also be offered under section 17 to parents or siblings.
14. The Children Act 1989 (Schedule 2 paragraph 96)(1)(c)) and Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations 2011 requires councils to provide a range of services designed to assist family carers of disabled children to continue to provide care, or to do so more effectively, by giving them breaks from caring. These services must include a range of daytime care, overnight care and leisure activities. This range of services must be set out in a ‘short breaks statement’ and include details of any eligibility criteria.
15. The Children Act 1989 (as amended by the Children and Families Act 2014) places specific duties on councils to assess the needs of carers with parental responsibility for disabled children as well as young carers. Councils have an obligation to assess parent carers on the ‘appearance of need’ (Children Act 1989, section 17ZD/E), or if an assessment is requested by the parent, and to provide a written copy of the assessment to the parent carer.
16. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 says councils must safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need.
17. A child is in need if:

• they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development unless the council provides support;
• their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired unless the council provides support; or
• they are disabled.

18. Under the Children Act 1989, councils are required to provide services for children in need for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting their welfare. Where a referral is accepted under section 17 the council should lead a multi-agency assessment and complete it within 45 working days. Where the council’s children’s social care decides to provide services, it should develop a multiagency child in need plan which sets out which organisations and agencies will provide which services to the child and family. The plan must be reviewed within three months of the start of the child in need plan and further reviews should take place at least every six months thereafter. (Working Together to Safeguard Children) 
19. When a council assesses a child as being in need, it supports them through a child in need plan. This should set clear, measurable outcomes for the child and expectations for their parent. Councils should review child in need plans regularly.
20. Parents/carers of disabled children can ask for a direct payment (DP) to meet the needs of the child. The council must carry out an assessment and DPs must be sufficient to meet the assessed needs. DPs must be used by the parent/carer to meet the child’s needs. DPs do not affect any benefit entitlement.

Complaints process

21. 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.
22. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. In February 2022 the Ombudsman issued practitioner guidance on the Children’s statutory complaints process.

What happened

26. This is a summary of events, outlining key facts and does not cover everything that has occurred in this case.
27. Y has complex additional needs. In March 2022, Mrs X disclosed to Y’s school, school R, the family were at crisis point because of Y’s needs and behaviours. Mrs X said previous early help involvement, including parenting support, did not work. She reported Y was uncontrollable at home. School R referred the family to the Council. The Council accepted the referral and agreed early help intervention was the most appropriate provision.

Early help.

28. The Council accepted the family were at crisis point in March 2022. The Council accepted it needed to provide intensive family support to the children in the home, Mrs X and her husband. The Council allocated a worker, Ms B, to the family. The Council determined it would arrange a family group conference to consider extended family support. Mrs X reported they did not have an extended family to rely upon for support. I have not seen any evidence to confirm a conference took place.
29. Mrs X informed the Council the previous support was not effective, and this was completed before Y received a diagnosis of Autism. She said the support only focussed on parenting and didn’t look at the family’s wider needs. The Council noted there was little early help could offer to support the family.
30. Ms B visited the family in April 2022. The visit was to gather information to start an early help assessment.
31. Ms B visited the family at the end of May 2022. The family explained the difficulties in dealing with Y. Ms B stated she had spoken to the disability team, and she needed to complete a Multi-Agency Referral Form (MARF) to see if the team could support with direct payments. This would be to support Y in the morning as he can be additionally challenging at this time.
32. At the end of June 2022, Ms B sent the completed MARF to her manager to sign off. The form was to access the disability team support.
33. At the start of July 2022, the manager accepted the MARF and the Council transferred Y’s case to the disability team.

Disability team

First worker

34. The Council started a child and young person’s assessment in July 2022. The case was allocated to a social worker, officer 1. The Council also noted Y was at risk of permanent exclusion from his school and had received multiple exclusions.
35. Mrs X contacted the Council several times in July 2022 and August 2022. She expressed she was at crisis point and officer 1 had not started the assessment or contacted her. Mrs X requested a manager called her. I have seen no evidence of any contact to Mrs X from the manager.

Second worker

36. In August 2022, the Council allocated the case to a new social worker, officer 2.
37. Officer 2 visited the family in August 2022. She gathered information to inform the assessment and completed some work with Y to get to know him.
38. At the end of August 2022, officer 2 completed checks with other agencies to inform her assessment.
39. At the end of September 2022, the Council held a child in need meeting. School R attended the meeting, along with Autism Outreach, an educational psychologist and officer 2. The meeting noted an action for officer 2 to complete the assessment and look at direct payment support to employ a personal assistant.
40. In October 2022, the Council recorded completing a carers assessment for Mrs X and her husband. The information seen is the parents’ views, not an assessment.
41. At the start of November 2022, school R chased officer 2 about another child in need meeting. Officer 2 confirmed it was one meeting and she had not arranged others. She confirmed once she had completed the assessment, (with a direct payment recommended and signed off by management), Y would be made subject of a child in need plan under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
42. In December 2022, the Council contacted Mrs X to inform her officer 2 was off work for at least a month and it would reallocate her case.

Third worker

43. In February 2023, the Council allocated a new social worker to the case, officer 3. She completed a home visit to the family to progress the assessment. The Council reported it received a call from other professionals who had witnessed Y’s behaviour and the family were not able to cope.
44. At the start of March, Mrs X removed Y from school R. She stated this was a joint decision with professionals as the school could not meet his needs and he was at risk of permanent exclusion. Y started a placement at a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU).
45. Mrs X complained to the Council in March 2023. She stated her family was at crisis point and had waited a year for help. She expressed frustration with getting allocated different workers and then having to change workers. Mrs X expressed frustration with workers not knowing Y and not understanding his diagnosis. She stated the communication from the Council had been poor.
46. The head of service contacted Mrs X the following day. They apologised the Council had not completed the assessment and explained some of the challenges the team were experiencing. The head of service confirmed the team would allocate a new worker to complete the assessment.

Fourth worker

47. The Council allocated a family support worker, officer 4, to the case in March 2023. Officer 4 visited the family and confirmed she would find out how to get the family a direct payment.
48. Y was permanently excluded from the PRU he attended because of his behaviour after attending for eight days.
49. Mrs X contacted the Council on several occasions at the end of March 2023. She informed the Council she called the police because Y ran off. The Council noted the family was not able to complete the necessary task they needed to. The Council added the situation was not sustainable.
50. The Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint at the start of April 2023. The Council upheld the complaint, sincerely apologised and stated it was trying to recruit more social workers. The response also upheld the complaint about poor communication and apologised. The Council assured Mrs X it would allocate a new social worker to complete the assessment. The Council repeatedly got Y’s name wrong in the complaint response. Mrs X was not happy with the Council's response and requested it escalate her complaint to stage two.

Fifth worker

51. The Council allocated a new social worker, officer 5, in the middle of April 2023. Officer 4 continued to work on the case alongside officer 5.
52. At the end of April 2023, Mrs X contacted the Council to inform it she had to call the police about Y’s behaviours again. Officers 4 and 5 visited the family. Mrs X reported she left Y at home for 15 minutes as she could not get him to engage and get her other two children to school. Officer 5 told Mrs X not to do this again. Mrs X informed officer 4 things had got worse at home. Officer 4 noted Mrs X was really struggling.
53. The Council provided its stage two response at the start of May 2023. The Council said it had completed the actions from stage one, it had allocated a new worker and did not uphold that part of her complaint. The Council apologised for calling Y the wrong name and upheld that part of the complaint. Mrs X wanted the Council to escalate her complaint as she had little confidence the Council had learnt anything from her case. The Council said it did not meet the threshold to escalate the complaint because Y had a provision of support in place to meet his needs.
54. Y had two more missing episodes at the start of May 2023 where the police were called and had to collect Y.
55. Y’s younger sibling continued to attend school R. It contacted the Council in the middle of May 2023 to report Y had been left at home alone again. School R reported Y had been aggressive and Mrs X had already called the police four times about his behaviours. The Council noted the risk to Y was low over the weekend as Y was only left on his own in the mornings for the school run due to his behaviours. Officer 5 contacted Mrs X to advise she cannot leave Y on his own. Mrs X said she had no choice as she had to take her other children to school safely when Y accompanied them. Officer 5 asked what support the school could offer. Mrs X repeated she needed help from the Council to deal with Y, but officer 5 said it was her responsibility to deal with Y.
56. Y started at a new school, school S, in May 2023. The integration plan confirmed Y would build up his hours at school. The plan was for Y to attend full time from September 2023.
57. Two days after Y started, school S contacted the Council to express their concerns for Mrs X. Officer 4 explained the Council’s concerns about leaving Y at home unsupervised. School S continued to express their concerns and said Mrs X had reported having to take time off work unpaid, which was putting additional pressure on the family. Officer 4 stated this was a family matter and Y’s needs and safety should come first.
58. The Council held a strategy meeting at the end of May 2023 as a result of Mrs X leaving Y at home alone. The meeting noted multiple missing person reports about Y and the police being involved several times. The police report also detailed assaults by Y on Mrs X and his infant sibling. The meeting noted Mrs X was clearly worn out by the continuing circumstances. The outcome of the meeting was no further action as Y attending school S should mitigate the risks.
59. Officer 5 completed her assessment at the end of June 2023.
60. The manager signed off the assessment in July 2023. The outcome of the assessment was Mrs X should explore universal services for Y and the case would be passed to early help.
61. Mrs X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate. Mrs X would like the Council to provide support for Y, the family and improve its service.
62. In response to my enquiries the Council stated Y was in receipt of support services via his Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). There was no social care needs detailed in the EHCP sent for this investigation.
63. The Council continued if offered Mrs X support through the local offer.
64. The information the Council provided evidenced multiple out of hours urgent calls, police contact and police reports, one detailing Y had assaulted Mrs X and his infant sibling.

My findings

Early help

65. The early help service received a referral from school R explaining the family were in crisis. Early help acted and determined an assessment of Y’s needs was needed. The Council had 45 days to complete the assessment. The case remained with early help for four months. I have seen no assessment and the outcome of the work was a referral to the disability service, due to the level of Y’s needs.

Delay in completing assessment

66. Mrs X’s family was reported to be in crisis in March 2022. The Children Act 1989 sets out a 45-day time limit to complete the assessment. The Council did not complete the assessment and have it signed off by a manager until July 2023, 16 months later. This is fault and Y’s needs were not fully assessed to access support and Mrs X was frustrated by the delay.
67. The Children Act 1989 specified an assessment should be completed within 45 days. The Council did not complete the assessment for a year. This is fault and Mrs X, and Y were potentially left without appropriate support for this time and remained in a crisis situation.

Complaint handling

68. The Council dealt with this complaint through its corporate complaint procedure, but this matter relates to the assessment for a child in need and should have been dealt with through the children’s services statutory complaints process. This has meant Mrs X’s complaint did not receive the independent scrutiny it was entitled to. This is fault.
69. We would generally ask the Council to consider this complaint under the statutory children’s complaint process. I have not taken this course of action in this complaint. Referring the complaint back at this stage would cause further delay for the family so as an exception we have investigated it ourselves.

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Agreed action

70. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Mrs X and her family by the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within 4 weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Mrs X for failing to appropriately consider her complaint and delaying completing Y’s assessment. This apology should be in accordance with the Ombudsman’s new guidance Making an effective apology.
• Pay Mrs X £500 as an acknowledgement of the time and trouble she has spent pursuing this complaint and for failing to consider it under the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
• Pay Mrs X £500 as an acknowledgement of the frustration the Council’s actions have caused.
71. The Council has agreed to take the following action within three months of my final decision:
• Conduct a review to identify the causes of the delays in this complaint.
• Produce an action plan to address the causes of the delays identified.
• Ensure the action plan has oversight from the relevant committee to ensure progress is made against the plan.
72. The Council should provide evidence of the actions taken to satisfy the recommendations.

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Final decision

73. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault by the Council, which caused injustice to Mrs X and her family.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman