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Childrens services representation and complaint procedure

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Introduction

This procedure explains how you can provide feedback about Children, Education and Families Services provided by Cambridgeshire County Council. This includes feedback about Targeted Support, Statutory Assessment Team, Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Services and Children’s Social Care. Your feedback may be a comment, enquiry, compliment or complaint. However, this procedure does not include feedback for Adult Services, nor does it include other Cambridgeshire departments of directorates.

Cambridgeshire County Council is committed to learning from customer experience to ensure we deliver the best possible service. Your feedback enables us to know what we do well and what we can improve upon.

If you are entitled to or have received a service from us, then you (or your representative) can provide feedback about such services or about agencies who provide services on our behalf. All feedback will be considered and recorded. Learning obtained will be shared with senior managers and our staff group, with a view to making changes where appropriate.

We will give help and advice to anyone wishing to provide feedback. Please let us know if you have a disability, if you have difficulty communicating in English, or if you have other needs which we need to take into consideration. We will then make arrangements to support you as best as possible.

Please note that all complainants are entitled to request a 3-stage formal complaints process, although we would hope to resolve complaints at an early stage wherever possible. This procedure describes the difference between the Corporate and Statutory complaints procedures, with most complaints following the Corporate complaints procedure. Concerns raised by, or on behalf of children and young people, regarding Social Care involvement will mainly following the Statutory complaints process.

If you have any queries about this document, or wish to provide feedback, please contact the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team.

Children's Complaints and Feedback Team

The Children's Complaints and Feedback Team is comprised of a full time Children's Complaints Manager and two full time Children's Complaints Officers. They coordinate and report upon all feedback received and can be contacted at:

Children's Complaints and Feedback Team

PO Box 761
BUT2401
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire
PE29 9QR
Tel: 01223 714765 or 03450 455 203
Email: ChildrensComplaintsandFeedbackTeam@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Reports

The Children's Complaints and Feedback Team produces an Annual Report that is available to the public via Cambridgeshire County Council’s website. Alternatively, you can request a copy to be sent to you by the Team.

Leaflets and Publications

The Children's Complaints and Feedback Team produces information for the public, as themes arise from complaints and other feedback, with a view to clarifying the Council’s roles and responsibilities for the benefit of both the public and its staff. To date, these have included leaflets about:

  • Communication
  • Information for Parents following Relationship Breakdown Child Protection Conferences
  • Children in Care
  • Special Guardianship Orders

Representations

Representations may not always be complaints, they might also be positive remarks or ideas that require a response from the Local Authority. Enquiries, questions or comments about the availability, delivery or nature of a service are likely to constitute representations, for example when children and young people wish to put forward ideas or proposals about the service they receive or the establishment they live in, without having this framed as a direct complaint.

In such instances it is usually best to raise these representations directly with the Service that is working with you and your family, as you are likely to receive a faster response. If you are unsure about who to speak to or feel your query is not receiving an answer, you are welcome to contact the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team, however as we are not involved in case work, we will not automatically know all the details of your situation, so please be patient as we will need to gather specific information to know who best to direct your representation toward.

Where someone makes the same enquiry repeatedly, it may be more appropriate for the issues raised to be dealt with through our complaints procedure, which is described later in this document. If this seems to be the best course of action, the Children's Complaints Manager will let you know.

It is also important to know what has gone well, so do please tell us. This is not just something to celebrate but is also a valuable source of learning. You can either send your compliment directly to the Service or to the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team.

All compliments are forwarded to and logged by the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team, who report upon these within their Annual Report.

Sometimes we hear from a Member of Parliament (MP) or County/District Councillor (Cllr) on your behalf. These enquiries are usually sent to the relevant Service or Executive Director. Replies are sent back to the MP or Cllr, who may or may not decide to share the response with you. In the event that you are unhappy with the response given to your MP or Cllr, you can choose to make a complaint at Stage 1 of our complaints process.

Access to Records

Sometimes, members of the public wish to access their own or their children’s records. You can do this using the online form

If you do not have access to a computer, please let us know and we will send you the relevant forms by post.

All Complaints

We accept that there may be occasions when you are dissatisfied or disagree with something that has occurred, and we would encourage you to discuss it as soon as possible with the relevant member of staff. It may be that there has been a misunderstanding or that a process has not been fully explained to you. If we are unable to resolve the issue to your satisfaction or if you wish to make a formal complaint, please let us know as soon as possible.

You can make your complaint in whichever way is most convenient for you. It does not have to be in writing, however there is an online form on the County Council website should you wish to submit it via this route:

Feedback leaflet

People sometimes chose to write a letter, email or phone in with complaints or raise them in person. You can also use the Feedback Leaflet which contains a simple form with freepost address. This should have been given to you when we first started to work with you, however it is provided here should you require it.

Feedback Leaflet 2023-24514KB–pdf
Size: 514KBFile format: pdf

If you wish to make a complaint in person, you can do so with any member of staff, who will then pass the details onto the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team.

The key information that we need is your name and contact details, name(s) of the child/ren involved and the nature of your complaint, ideally together with what you would like to happen as a result of raising your concerns.

Advocacy

We understand that people often find it stressful to make a complaint and may welcome assistance with this. You can always choose to have informal support from a relative or friend but if you believe an advocate would help, we will try to put you in touch with an appropriate service. Currently all Children and Young People who are designated Children in Care (CiC) or children subject to a Child Protection plan (CP) who wish to make a complaint about Children’s Social Care are put in touch with the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS), who will provide them with independent and confidential support through the process.

Complaints that involve other bodies

Wherever possible, complaints against the Local Authority will be dealt with through one investigation and response, including complaints that span Adults and Children, Education and Families, or those that involve Children, Education and Families and other agencies, such as Health. However, decisions will be made as to the timeliness of any such joint response and the complainant will be informed if more than one response will be sent.

Complaints that entirely concern other agencies must be dealt with by those agencies, and where they relate to independent providers, their own complaint procedure must be followed. For example, complaints relating to Child Minders, Playgroups and Nurseries should be addressed to Ofsted, and complaints relating to individual schools should follow the School's own complaint procedure.

Complaints made on behalf of or about a child or young person

Where a complaint is received from a representative acting on behalf of a child or young person, the Children’s Complaints and Feedback Team will seek to confirm where possible that the child or young person is happy for this to happen and that the complaint submitted reflects their own views. The Children's Complaints and Feedback Team is also likely to receive complaints by adults that relate to a child or young person but are not made on the child's behalf. The Children’s Act 1989, gives discretion to the Local Authority to decide whether or not the complainant is suitable to act in this capacity or has 'sufficient interest in the child's welfare to raise such concerns. If the Children's Complaints Manager considers that you do not have 'sufficient interest', they will notify you in writing, explaining that no further action will be taken. The Children's Complaints Manager may need to discuss the matter with relevant operational managers in order to make this decision.

Data Protection

You will understand that great care is needed with regard to Data Protection, especially where complainants do not have Parental Responsibility for the children about whose services they are complaining. We cannot share information with you to which you are not entitled, without the explicit, signed consent of the person to whom the information belongs.

Sometimes complaints are received from extended family members. In these situations, the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team will ask whether or not at least one parent with Parental Responsibility or the child or young person concerned is aware of your complaint. If so, we may contact that parent/child/young person to seek permission to communicate directly with you. Where this permission is not given, only very brief information can be shared. Another option is for the response to be sent to either the person with Parental Responsibility or the child/young person, who then has the choice whether to share it with you.

Additionally we may receive a complaint from a parent who does not have Parental Responsibility, where we would again need to seek permission before replying in detail.

Deferring, freezing or suspending complaints

It may not be possible to accept a complaint about a matter which could prejudice a ‘concurrent investigation’ within any of the following situations: Court Proceedings, Tribunals, Disciplinary Proceedings or Criminal Proceedings. Once the concurrent investigation has concluded, you may resubmit your complaint for consideration, however, the complaints process outlined in this guidance is not an appeals procedure against Court, Tribunal, Disciplinary or Police decisions, therefore complaints should not be used as an additional means to try and achieve a desired outcome.

Complaints which have already been accepted can also be suspended in some situations, for example if the case is going before a Court/Tribunal or if a Child Protection investigation is taking place. If your complaint is about a proposed change to a Care Plan, a Placement or a Service, this decision may need to be deferred until your complaint has been considered. However, care will be taken if deferring a decision is likely to have a significant effect upon the mental or physical wellbeing of a child or young person.

Complaints outside of remit

Complaints are not usually accepted in relation to events which occurred more than 12 months prior unless you were unaware of those events until recently. (Complaints from children and young people may be accepted outside the 12 month period, where they were not able to make the complaint or did not feel confident in bringing it forward within the 12 month timeframe). Complaints will not be accepted if they have previously been raised and responded to more than 12 months earlier or have already been dealt with at all three stages of the complaints procedure.

Particular aspects of a Child Protection Conference such as how the Conference was run, the decision of the Conference to make the child the subject of a Child Protection Plan, or the decision of a Review Conference to continue with the Child Protection Plan, are outside of remit of our complaints procedure. However, it may be possible to raise such issues with the Conferencing Service; the Conference Chairperson, their line manager or directly with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership Board (SCPB).

Claims for significant compensation

The complaints procedure is not a way to obtain financial compensation per se. If you seek only compensation as the result of your complaint, you should take legal advice about making a claim against Cambridgeshire County Council. The Council can, however consider complaints where its actions (or lack of) have resulted in you incurring unnecessary expenses or suffering financial loss or hardship.

Disciplinary Procedures

Please note that the complaint procedure, whether Corporate or Statutory, is completely separate from any Disciplinary Procedure and as such, details of which are kept strictly confidential. Complainants are not informed of any such action, although we accept that sometimes complainants may wish for members of staff to be disciplined.

Persistent Complainants

The Local Authority is committed to dealing with all complaints fairly and impartially, providing a high quality service to those who complain. However, there are a small number of complainants who because of the frequency of their contact with the Local Authority, hinder consideration of their own complaints.

Where someone is perceived as being a persistent complainer, a meeting may be offered to determine whether the frequency of their contact is because they really believe things have gone wrong or if their actions might be deemed as unreasonable.

If you are persisting with your complaint because you feel the issues raised have not been considered in full, then the Children's Complaints Manager will consider any outstanding issues. If it is found the Local Authority has already addressed your concerns and has demonstrated this to you, then the Children's Complaints Manager will consider whether you meet the criteria as inappropriately persistent.

Where the relationship becomes unworkable, possibly due to abusive, threatening or other unreasonable behaviour, the Children's Complaints Manager will write to you to explain why your behaviour falls into that category. They will advise you what action will be taken and the duration of that action.

If you continue to behave unreasonably, or override the restrictions placed on your access to our Service, we may decide to terminate contact with you and end any investigation into your complaint.

New complaints from people whose behaviour has previously been deemed unreasonable will be treated on their own merit. Restrictions imposed in respect of an earlier complaint will not automatically apply to a new matter.

Three stage complaint procedure

Certain complaints against Children’s Social Care are subject to Statutory Regulations

and Department for Education and Skills Guidance

These involve external scrutiny at Stages 2 and 3. All other complaints are dealt with under the Local Authority’s Corporate complaint procedure, with all 3 Stages being considered internally.

The Children’s Complaints and Feedback Team is central to the management of all Children, Education and Families complaints. On receiving your complaint, the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team will send you an acknowledgement letter, explaining:

Whether your complaint is being dealt with under the Statutory or Corporate complaints procedure;

Which Manager will be investigating and responding to you; The due date for the complaint response to be sent to you.

The Children's Complaints Manager will raise any urgent issues about practice, should these become apparent.

Timescales:

An acknowledgement letter will be sent within 3 working days of receipt of your complaint (the date of receipt is counted as day zero);

The response will usually be sent within 10 working days of receipt of your concerns;

An extension letter will be sent if there is going to be a delay, to a maximum of 20 working days, to the response letter to being sent (in complex cases, 20 days may be set from the outset).

The Responding Manager may contact you to discuss your complaint or invite you to a meeting, especially where you have raised a number of issues or if the situation is particularly complicated. In such circumstances, the Manager may suggest a further extension to enable them more time to consider any new issues raised.

Once a response is ready, you will be sent a feedback form with the response letter which we invite you to return if you have any further comments to make, including whether there are any unresolved issues. If we do not hear from you within 20 working days, your complaint will be closed.

Dissatisfaction with outcome of Stage 1

We will always try to find a satisfactory resolution to any issues that continue to cause you concern. If we have not met with you beforehand, we may arrange a face-to-face meeting with you so we can discuss your dissatisfaction in person.

Where the matter has not been resolved locally, the complainant has the right to request consideration of their complaint at Stage 2.

The process for Stages 2 and 3 is different depending on whether the complaint is being dealt with under our Corporate or Statutory Complaints procedure. In all cases, Stages 2 and 3 are coordinated by the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team, however the expectation is that the majority of complaints should be considered (and resolved) at Stage 1.

Stage 2 – Corporate Complaints

Where your request for consideration at Stage 2 has been accepted, it is passed by the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team to a Manager with greater seniority than the Responding Manager from Stage 1. Together with the request for Stage 2, the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team passes the original complaint and response to the relevant Investigating Manager. The Team will write to you within 3 working days to say which Senior Manager is to be involved and to give a due date for the response, 10 working days from agreement to go to Stage 2 (or 20 working days in complex cases).

Dissatisfaction with outcome of Stage 2 – Corporate Complaints

As with earlier dissatisfaction, the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team, together with the Senior Manager, will attempt to find a resolution that is acceptable to you before going to Stage 3.

Stage 3 – Corporate Complaints

If you remain dissatisfied you may ask for your case to be reviewed at Stage 3. At Stage 3 your complaint and the Stage 1 and 2 responses are shared with the Council's Chief Executive, who will facilitate a review of your complaint.

We aim to complete the Stage 3 review within 10 working days, however this timescale may be extended in complex cases. If there is to be a delay, the Children's Complaints and Feedback Team will let you know when you may reasonably expect a response.

The Children's Complaints Manager has discretion to pass complaints directly to Stage 2. This is rare but sometimes takes place where the situation is particularly complex.

Stage 2 involves the appointment of two independent people to investigate the complaint. The Local Authority has a contract with Coram Voice who employ a number of Investigators with a range of relevant backgrounds. They have all been Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checked and are taken on for single pieces of work which they are paid for at an hourly rate.

There is a lead Investigating Officer (IO) and an Independent Person (IP) appointed to each Stage 2 investigation. The latter ensures that the investigation is thorough, transparent and fair, with clear and logical outcomes. The IP has the additional responsibility of keeping the child’s best interests at the centre.

With your written permission (and in the knowledge of any other person with Parental Responsibility or, where appropriate, the child or young person), the independent people will work to a Schedule or Statement of Complaint (SOC), and investigate the areas of your complaint which remain unresolved and consider your desired outcomes.

The Stage 2 investigation timescale will start from the date your escalation request was received and accepted. The investigation should be completed and the response sent within 25 working days, which can be extended to a maximum of 65 working days if the case is complex, which is often the case at Stage 2.

The investigators will have access to all relevant records other than Court paperwork, for which the Court’s permission would need to be sought. These should be released within the bounds of normal confidentiality and with regard to relevant legislation from the Freedom of Information Act, 2000 and the Data Protection Act, 1998.

The investigators will then arrange to review the case records and interview staff, including any staff members who have left the Local Authority (providing they are contactable). The Schedule of Complaint is sent in advance to all staff to be interviewed so they can familiarise themselves of the issues being investigated.

The Investigating Officer writes the main report, including findings, conclusions, outcomes and recommendations, and the Independent Person writes a shorter supplementary report commenting on how the investigation was conducted.

Both reports are forwarded to a Senior Manager to be considered in the capacity of Adjudicating Officer. The Adjudicating Officer will prepare a response to both reports. In doing so they may offer to meet with you or the child/young person. Following which both reports and the ‘letter of adjudication’ will be sent to you and shared with the Service/Team concerned, so that lessons may be learned.

Dissatisfaction with outcome of Stage 2 – Statutory Complaints

As with the Corporate Complaints process, we will attempt to find resolution to any ongoing dissatisfaction prior to proceeding to Stage 3.

Where Stage 2 of the Statutory complaints procedure has concluded, if you remain dissatisfied, you may request further consideration of your complaint by a Review Panel at Stage 3. You will have 20 working days to request a Stage 3 Panel from receiving the Stage 2 reports and ‘letter of adjudication’ or within 20 working days of any adjudication meeting.

Unlike Stages 1 and 2, Stage 3 of the Statutory Complaints Procedure is not another investigation, therefore it is not possible to consider a complaint that has not yet been fully investigated at Stage 2. It is a review conducted by three new independent people, also employed by Coram Voice, who have not been previously involved with the complaint. The Panel should be appointed within 10 working days of the request being received, and held within 30 working days.

The Review Panel will decide if the complaint has been properly investigated and whether there should have been any different or additional findings and recommendations. The Panel Chair will produce the 'Panel findings' within 5 working days of the Review meeting, following which a different Senior Manager will write to you within 15 working days. This is the final Stage of the Statutory Complaints Process.

No party should feel the need to be represented by lawyers at the Review Panel. The purpose of the Panel is to consider the complaint and wherever possible, work towards a resolution. It is not a quasi-judicial process and the presence of lawyers can work against the spirit of openness and problem-solving.

Next Steps - All Complaints - The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO)

The LGSCO can be approached by complainants at any point during the complaint process but you will usually be re-directed to the Local Authority to complete all 3 Stages of its complaint procedure first.

The LGSCO will consider if there has been any maladministration and it makes recommendations to the Local Authority where it feels this has been the case.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

PO Box 4771
Coventry CV4 0EH
Telephone: 03000 610 614 (Calls to 03 numbers cost no more than calls to national geographic numbers starting 01 or 02).
Text: ‘call back’ to 07624 811 595
Fax: 02476 820 001
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman website

Information Governance Team

Box SCO2306
Cambridgeshire County Council
Scott House, 5 George Street
Huntingdon
PE29 3AD
Telephone: 01223 699 137
Email: data.protection@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Information Commissioner's Office website

Department of Health and Social Care

39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU
Telephone: 0207 210 4850
Department of Health and Social Care website

Department for Education

Piccadilly Gate, Store Street
Manchester
M1 2WD
Telephone: 0370 000 2288
Department for Education website

Social Work England

1 North Bank, Blonk Street
Sheffield
S3 8JY
Telephone: 08081962274
Social Work England website

National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS)

Tower House, 1 Tower Road, Birkenhead
Wirral
CH41 1FF
Telephone: 0808 808 1001 (This is a Freephone number from landlines. Calls from mobiles may be chargeable). Text: 0743 596 7405
Email: help@nyas.net
Nation Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) website