A mum’s complaints about children’s services in Reading were scuppered, took years to resolve and saw her feeling unable to properly take part in a hearing about her son’s welfare.
She has since received compensation after an investigation into her complaints took place.
The complaints were centred around the organisation of education and care for her son by Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC), the company that runs children’s services in Reading on behalf of Reading Borough Council.
Issues began in a dispute between the mum and BFfC over her son’s care needs.
This resulted in a years-long back and forth between her and BFfC, with the mum first complaining in December 2020.
Although BFfC responded to the complaint in January 2021, the mum was unsatisfied with the result and escalated to a stage 2 complaint.
Procedures for this complaint were followed, with an investigation taking place and an adjudication letter being sent to the mum in 2021.
However, she claimed she never received this letter and outcome in April 2022.
Although this letter was sent to her via email three days afterwards, the mum was still unsatisfied with the outcome and escalated to stage 3 of the complaints process.
This resulted in a struggle for her to get representation.
Ultimately, the mum was left without an advocate.
A hearing to determine the stage 3 complaint took place in December 2022, but the mum expressed unhappiness about how it had been arranged by the council’s complaints manager. She said she was not emotionally able to participate, and therefore agreed to the hearing continuing in her absence.
Afterwards, the mum asked for her complaints to be investigated by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO).
She accused BFfC and the council of mishandling the complaints procedure and failing to address the issues she had raised.
The ombudsman found that the stage 2 complaint was delayed by four months, and the stage 3 procedure was significantly delayed. However, they found the mum had not made proper preparations for the stage 3 hearing.
In recompense, the ombudsman asked for the mum to be paid £100 in compensation and for an apology to the stage 2 delay, actions that BFfC and the council have enacted.
A spokesperson said: “BFfC fully accepts the Ombudsman’s findings in relation to the mum’s complaint. The council, which manages complaints on BFfC’s behalf, properly considered the complaint, made adjustments to its process and generally acted in accordance with its statutory responsibilities.
“Nonetheless, we have apologised to her and made a symbolic payment as recommended by the Ombudsman.”
