Making a complaint about Children's Services
If you want to make a complaint about Children’s Services please follow the procedure below.
Who you can complain about
This procedure is for complaints about:
- social care, including adoption, fostering and living in care
- special educational needs, including learning difficulties
- the flexible learning educational support service (FLESS)
- school admissions and transport
- the educational welfare service, including school attendance
- youth offending services
- early years and child care service, including Children’s Centres
- any other services for which the Children’s Services Authority is responsible, but not schools.
Schools
Different procedures apply for complaining about schools – please see our page on Making a complaint about a school.
If you are not sure whether you should be using this procedure for your complaint, please contact the Complaints Team.
Contacting the Complaints Team
You are welcome to call us for advice about making your complaint. You can also make your complaint verbally if you like.
Contact the Children’s Services Complaints Team.
Complaints by young people
If you are a young person you can either make a complaint yourself or ask someone to do it for you. This could be an adult such as a social worker or a key worker.
You can read the information below about how to make a complaint, or you can watch our DVD for young people on You Tube – Young Voices.
Stage 1 – problem solving
You can complain to either the manager of the service you have a complaint about or to the Children’s Services Complaints Team.
The manager responsible for the service you are complaining about will investigate your complaint and will aim to respond within 10 working days. If the complaint is more complicated it may take up to 20 days. Wherever possible we will try to resolve the complaint at this stage.
If you are not satisfied with this response, you can contact the Complaints Team for advice about what would help. If necessary we can advise on how to take your complaint further.
Stage 2 – formal investigation
The Complaints Team will discuss your complaint with you and look for ways to resolve the problem.
If necessary, they will arrange for an investigating officer to look into your complaint. This person will not have been responsible for the service that you are complaining about. Sometimes an independent person is appointed to work with the investigating officer. This independent person will not be a member or officer of the Council.
At the end of the investigation, both the investigating officer and the independent person, if appointed, will write a report. Using these reports, a senior manager will make a decision about what we should do. Wherever possible, a senior manager will aim to respond within 25 working days of your complaint being agreed with the investigating officer. If the complaint is more complicated it may take up to 65 days.
You will normally be sent the investigating officer’s report and the independent person’s report, if an independent person was involved, with a letter from the senior manager. The senior manager will offer to meet with you to discuss the reports and the response. They will also tell you about your right to ask for the next stage of the procedure if you are still not satisfied. Contact the Complaints Team for advice on how to take your complaint further.
Stage 3 – Complaints Review Panel
The Complaints Team will talk with you about which parts of the investigation you are not satisfied with and how a solution could be reached. If necessary they can arrange for a Complaints Review Panel.
A Complaints Review Panel is made up of three independent people. They will not re-investigate your complaint. They will consider why you think the investigation was not conducted properly and if the outcomes of the investigation were incorrect.
If you want a review panel to hear your complaint, you must contact the Complaints Manager within 20 working days of receiving the senior manager’s letter. The Complaints Manager will set up a review panel to meet within 30 working days of receiving your request and they will keep you fully informed about this part of the process.
After the Complaints Review Panel has heard your case, the panel chair will write a report, giving the panel’s recommendations and the reasons for them, within five working days of the meeting. The report goes to the Director of Children’s Services. The Director will write to you with his comments within 15 working days of receiving the review panel report and will forward a copy of the report to you and to others who participated in the review panel meeting.
The Local Government Ombudsman
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Complaints Review Panel, you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman.
Local Government Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry CV4 OEH
Tel: 0845 602 1983
Email: advice@lgo.org.uk
Website: Local Government Ombudsman
