Ombudsman upholds couple’s child in need plan complaint against Calderdale Council

In a report published by the Ombudsman, the couple, anonymously named as Mr and Mrs X, complained about the council’s decision to close the plan when their granchildren’s risk of harm was increasing.

According to the published report, the child in need plan had initially been set up due to concerns about the mother’s drinking and suitability of her partners.

The Ombudsman, as well as upholding the complaint, also found fault with the authority for the time taken in implementing recommendations and for not adequately recognising the impact on Mr and Mrs X.

The council has agreed to implement the recommendations from the statutory complaints process and pay Mr and Mrs X £500 for the distress caused, says the report.

The couple said further issues about the mother’s behaviour had happened and not been addressed by the council, they did not think the panel considered their submissions properly or recorded key discussions properly, and were unhappy at how complaints about some senior staff had been dealt with.

An investigation process followed Mr and Mrs X’s complaints in which some recommendations over process were accepted and the council offered the couple £250 to recognise faults in the investigation.

The final stage of the three-part investigation concluded the council had ended the plan early without consulting the relevant partners and the decision to end the plan put the children at risk.

Responses to Mr and Mrs X had been inadequate, it said.

The investigation panel recommended the council develop a management plan to address issues raised by the complaint.

The agreed action to be taken by the council was to implement the recommendations set out in the stage three panel’s report, pay Mr and Mrx X the £500 for distress suffered, and provide evidence to the Ombudsman that it had done these things.

Coun Adam Wilkinson (Lab, Sowerby Bridge), who is Calderdale Council’s Cabinet member for Children and Young People’s Services, said the council had now taken action and instituted procedural changes.

“We have contacted the grandparents to offer our sincere apologies for our decision-making in this case, and for the distress this has caused.

“We are committed to providing the best possible service to local families and Ofsted recognised the high quality of our work when they inspected our Children and Young People’s Services in November 2018.

“However, we accept that we made mistakes in this case and the service received did not meet our high standards.

“We have now made a number of changes to the way we work, including changing policies and procedures and providing additional training for staff. We have implemented all of the Ombudsman’s recommendations,” he said.