LGO complaint upheld against council

Shropshire Council has apologised to a mother after it took too long to offer suitable respite care for her child.

Miss X’s child, Y, is disabled with complex learning difficulties. In January 2024, Miss X complained to the council about its failure to arrange suitable respite for the child. This included overnight resite, while Miss X was admitted to hospital for a planned operation later in the year.

The council considered the complaint, and apologised for a day in arranging Y’s respite, saying it was still searching for suitable provision. Over the next few months, Shropshire Council held child in need meetings to try and resolve the situation.

In June 2024, Miss X complained to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGO). Reporting its decision on December 17, the LGO said that the mother had identified suitable provision for her child during her operation and the council agreed to fund 24 nights of respite care throughout the year.

However, at the time, Miss X said the council had still not resolved the issues, and was concerned she will be in the e same situation again in the future.

“Councils should use the children’s statutory complaints procedure for complaints about actions they take to meet their duties under Part 3 of the Children Act 1989,” said the LGO.

“This includes section 17 of the Children Act – the council’s duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need.

“The council’s failure to respond to Miss X’s complaint using the children’s statutory complaints procedure was fault.

“The statutory procedure provides an important, independent, route of redress for vulnerable children, young people and those acting on their behalf. The fault meant Miss X had to go through the wrong complaints procedure and complain to the Ombudsman unnecessarily.”

The LGO has told the council to begin a stage two investigation into the complaint, which chould take no longer than 65 working days. It also needs to provide evidence of its compliance.

A Shropshire Council spokesperson said: “We acknowledge and understand the concerns made by the individual and have apologised for any distress this has caused. We welcome the findings from the Ombudsman, solutions are being sought, and we are taking the necessary steps to ensure our children’s statutory complaints processes are applied appropriately in future.”