Decision Report 201301469

Summary

Mr C complained that the council took an unreasonable length of time to respond to his complaints and did not adequately investigate and respond to his concerns about the actions of a school with regard to the alleged bullying of his son. He said that he was very concerned about his son's welfare as a result of the alleged incidents.

We upheld his complaints, as our investigation found that although the council apologised and gave various reasons for delays, the complaints process took an unacceptably long time to complete. It was only after we contacted them that the council eventually gave a final response, nearly seven months after Mr C first complained. Even then, it did not address all the issues and was incomplete, although they later gave him additional information.

Recommendations

We recommended that the council:

• apologise for the unreasonable time taken to manage the entire process of responding to Mr C's complaints;
• consider reviewing what steps they might take to ensure timelines for complaints handling are met and appropriate cases are given priority;
• apologise for not adequately investigating and responding to Mr C's concerns;
• share the findings of our investigation with appropriate staff; and
• consider how to ensure school staff are fully aware of the anti-bullying strategy and the investigation process for allegations of bullying.