Children's Social Care compliments, complaints and feedback

The following people are entitled to access the statutory complaints procedure:

• Any child or young person who is being looked after by the local authority or is a child in need
• A parent, or someone who has parental responsibility, of a looked after child or child in need
• Any local authority foster carer (including those caring for children placed through independent fostering agencies)
• An eligible young person, relevant young person, former relevant young person or qualifying young person
• A person aged up to 24 who is or was a former relevant young person or qualified for advice and assistance under the leaving care procedures and whom the local authority may still assist in connection with education and training
• Special guardians
• A child or young person (or parent of his) for whom a Special Guardianship Order is in force
• Any person who has applied for an assessment for special guardianship support
• Any child, young person or adult who may be adopted, their birth family and adoptive parents
• Persons wishing to adopt a child
• Any other person to whom arrangements for the provision of adoption services extend
• Such other person as the local authority consider has sufficient interest in the child or young person’s welfare to warrant his representations being considered by them

Where a complaint is received from a representative acting on behalf of a child or young person, the council should normally confirm where possible that the child or young person is happy for this to happen and that the complaint submitted reflects the child’s views.

The council has the discretion to decide whether or not the representative is suitable to act in this capacity or has sufficient interest in the child’s welfare.

Complaints by adults that relate to a child or young person but are not made on the child's behalf, the council has discretion to decide in cases where eligibility is not automatic whether or not an individual has sufficient interest in the child’s welfare to justify his own complaint being considered. In reaching a decision, where possible the Council may check with the child or young person that they are happy with the person making a complaint.

Complaints of a general nature, which are not concerned with an individual case, or if the complaint is about how the council has treated an adult, will likely fall outside the statutory definition; this however does not mean that the council is not able to consider the complaint. The council will review the complaint and ensure that it is dealt with in accordance with the appropriate procedure and the individual will be advised of this.

Complaints received anonymously will be considered by the service concerned and where required, the appropriate investigations and actions will be carried out.

The regulations provide that representations will not be considered in relation to
certain matters. These include but not exhaustive:

• Where court proceedings or disciplinary proceedings have commenced in relation to the substance of the complaint
• Where a complainant intends to take legal proceedings with regard to the substance of the complaint
• Where the Authority considers that the person making the complaint has insufficient interest in the child’s welfare
• Where a complaint has been made later than 12 months from the time of the incident unless extenuating circumstances apply.

If your complaint falls outside the statutory complaint procedure, such as Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), Educational Health and Care Plans (EHCP), Early Help, or School Transport complaints, it will be processed under the Council's Complaints Procedure.

You will be informed of the procedure under which your complaint has been logged as part of your acknowledgement.

We will give your complaint to a manager to look into. Most problems can be dealt with quickly and informally at this stage, which is better for everyone. Statutory guidelines say we have to deal with your complaint within 10 working days.

If the case is more complex an extra 10 working days is allowed, to permit a more complete response.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you can ask to go to the next stage.
 

The complainant has 20 working days to request a Stage 2 Investigation from the date of the Stage 1 response.

The details of the complaint and the desired outcome should be agreed with the complainant.

The Complaints Manager will appoint an appropriate independent investigator. The investigator will then produce a report and the Adjudication Officer (Assistant Executive Director) should respond to this report within 25 working days from the date on which the written complaint was received.

An extension may be agreed with the complainant but the process should be completed within a maximum of 65 working days. 

The complainant has 20 working days to request a Review Panel from the date of the Stage 2 response and the Panel must be convened within 30 working days of the request.

The Panel consists of 3 people independent of the local authority who will meet to consider whether the complaint was adequately dealt with at Stage 2.

The Panel must produce a written report including recommendations to the council within 5 working days of the Panel. The council has a further 15 working days in which to respond to the complainant on the Panel’s recommendations.

There is no further right of appeal to the council following completion of a review at stage three of this policy. Within our final response, we will inform you of your right to take your complaint further if you remain dissatisfied.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman look at individual complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing public services.

They are the final stage for complaints about councils and they are a free service. The LGO will not usually investigate a complaint until the council has had an opportunity to investigate and answer it first.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH

Phone: 0300 061 0614

www.lgo.org.uk

You can ask a family member or a friend to make a complaint on your behalf. We’ll need your permission for us to deal with another person before we accept your complaint.

Please tell us if you need any other support to make a complaint. We can tell you about the advocacy services provided locally to help you to have your say.

Some customers act in ways we consider unreasonable when trying to resolve their complaints.

We take all complaints seriously and aim to resolve them fairly. Usually, we can work with complainants to reach a solution that works for both sides. However, if communication becomes difficult, we may need to take appropriate steps.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman defines unreasonable actions as:

Unreasonable actions are those which, because of the nature or frequency of contact with an organisation, hinder the organisation’s delivery of services or consideration of complaints.

We have a specific policy to address these situations and outline our approach, which can be found here.

Submit your compliment, complaint or provide feedback online via the link below. If you have supporting documents, you can upload them at the bottom of the form.

Start here

Alternatively, you can write to;

Customer Liaison Team
Knowsley Council
Nutgrove Villa
Westmorland Road
L36 6GA

Telephone us on 0151 443 3231

Email us HYSchildrenscomplaints@knowsley.gov.uk