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Decision Report 201702471

  • Case ref:
    201702471
  • Date:
    April 2018
  • Body:
    West Lothian Council
  • Sector:
    Local Government
  • Outcome:
    Upheld, recommendations
  • Subject:
    complaints handling (inc social work complaints procedures)

Summary

Mr C complained that the council had unreasonably refused to progress his complaint about social work matters to a complaints review committee (CRC). The council said that a CRC was not the appropriate route for the issues raised by Mr C and did not fall within the remit of the committee. Mr C was unhappy with this response and brought his complaint to us.

We took independent advice from a social worker. We found that Mr C's complaint was eligible to be progressed to a CRC and, therefore, we upheld his complaint.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

  • Apologise to Mr C for not holding a CRC. The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at https://www.spso.org.uk/leaflets-and-guidance.

In relation to complaints handling, we recommended:

  • The council should now progress Mr C's complaint to a CRC.

We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.

Updated: December 2, 2018