Council allowed child protection plan to "drift without substantive action", Ombudsman finds
An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found West Berkshire Council at fault for delaying its child protection processes and allowing a Child Protection Plan to "drift without substantive action".
The council has since agreed to pay £200 to recognise the injustice caused, and to place a copy of the Ombudsman's final decision on its records about the claimant - outlining the faults identified with how it carried out child protection proceedings.
The complainant, Ms X, complained to the Ombudsman about how the council carried out child protection proceedings for her child, D, in 2023 and 2024.
She claimed the council failed to:
- Complete the actions set out in the Child Protection Plan;
- Properly conduct Child Protection Conferences to update and make decisions about the Plan;
- Properly consider her views during the proceedings;
- Communicate properly and transparently with her about the proceedings; and
- Respond when she complained about these issues.
There were three Review Child Protection Conferences (RCPCs) in the period the Ombudsman considered, in March 2023, November 2023, and May 2024.
The report observed that the council rearranged the March 2023 RCPC twice, so it held this seven months after the previous review - a delay of one month.
The Ombudsman said: “The council provided evidence this delay was because professionals invited from other organisations did not confirm their attendance, and that it chased this once. However, given this concerned a child it had decided was at risk of harm, I do not consider the council did enough to escalate this and ensure the conference progressed within statutory timescales. The delay was fault.”
The Ombudsman further noted that the core group meeting and RCPC minutes throughout the period it considered showed the council “recognised the Child Protection process was not working for D”, and the Child Protection plan was “not progressing”. However, it took “no meaningful action” to address this.
Looking at complaint handling, the Ombudsman found that the council did not respond “at all” to complaints made by Ms X in November and December 2023, which was fault.
The report stated: “There were no ongoing court proceedings which prevented the council from responding to the complaint at that time. The council said it had concerns that responding in detail may present a risk to D. It is up to the council to decide what information it should disclose to Ms X. However, it should still have issued a complaint response, and explained any specific points it could not respond to because it considered it should not share the information.”
The Ombudsman concluded that the council delayed its child protection processes, allowed the Child Protection Plan to “drift without substantive action”, and failed to properly consider Ms X’s views or respond to her complaint.
The report noted: “Ms X missed an opportunity to have her concerns about the process considered and responded to, via the correct procedure. If the council had considered this, it is a possibility this could have resulted in a decision to reconvene an RCPC, and decisions being reconsidered. There remains uncertainty for Ms X about how things may have been different, which causes her avoidable distress.”
To remedy the injustice caused, the Ombudsman recommended the council:
- apologise to Ms X, and pay her £200 to recognise the avoidable distress, uncertainty, time, and trouble caused;
- place a copy of the Ombudsman’s final decision on its records about Ms X, so there is a record of the faults identified with how it carried out child protection proceedings.
- review how it handled the child protection proceedings from January 2023 to May 2024 in light of the report’s findings;
- produce a dated action plan of how it will avoid recurrence of the same faults, by making changes to practice and procedure or staff training.
A West Berkshire Council Spokesperson said: "We are not able to comment on individual children but would note that child protection is a very complex area which is multi-faceted. Our teams work hard with our partners to respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns. Where there are opportunities to learn we take all appropriate steps to ensure services continue to improve. The Local Authority have fully considered the recommendations in this case and have made changes to process."
Lottie Winson