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Case ref:201702471
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Date:April 2018
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Body:West Lothian Council
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Sector:Local Government
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Outcome:Upheld, recommendations
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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.