Looked-after children Feedback and complaints

Your views matter

We are committed to providing you with the best service possible. We always welcome compliments, comments and complaints about our services in order to continually improve our service delivery.

  • You may want to compliment someone who has helped you or let us know if we have done something well.
  • You may want to comment and make suggestions on how we may improve our services.
  • You may have a complaint if we have not provided the service you expected.

Remember, we cannot resolve an issue if we are not aware of it.

How can I comment or provide a compliment?

It is important for us to obtain as much feedback as possible. Comments and compliments can be as helpful as complaints in identifying where services are working well, or whether changes could be made to generate improvement. 

You can use the following contact details to make a comment or compliment you have about a service.

Regardless of how you contact us, your confidentiality is paramount and if we need to share your information with any partners or outside organisations, we will seek your consent first.

You can find out more about complaints by accessing a copy of our Children’s Services Statutory Complaints Procedure found on the children and young people's complaints webpage.

Can I have help to make a complaint?

  • A child or young person may want to ask someone to help them take forward their complaint and this could include a social worker, teacher, carer or an adult they trust.
  • You can ask a local councillor or an MP to speak to us on your behalf, or if you prefer we can provide details of advocacy support and where you can seek advice from independent organisations.
  • If you want to complain in person, but have a disability that prevents you from doing so, we can arrange a visit to gather the details of your complaint, or can telephone you to talk about the best way we can help you complain.
  • A complaints officer independent of the service you are complaining about can give you advice on how to make a complaint or arrange for an advocate to assist you. An advocate is someone who can help you through the process of complaining and speak up for you.

Who can I complain about?

The sorts of things that you may want to complain about might be...

  • If you receive a poor quality service – including services we have arranged but are delivered by an independent care provider.
  • The attitude or behaviour of a member of staff.
  • A case conference, an assessment, care plan, or review of your services, such as our eligibility criteria (conditions).
  • Any service Children’s Social Care provides (complaints not related to social care may be responded to under our corporate complaints procedure).
  • The standard of spoken English of a public sector member of staff in a public facing role.

There are three stages within our Children’s Social Care Complaints Procedure, and a 4th stage that is referral to the Ombudsman:

Stage 1

The Complaints Officer will contact a manager within Children’s Services and ask them to investigate your complaint and provide a written response within 10 working days. In some cases it may take up to 20 working days but we will let you know if this extra time is needed and why. If you are unhappy with the response you can request to go to stage 2.

Stage 2

An External Investigating Officer (someone who is not part of the service you have complained about) will investigate your complaint in more detail. They will also appoint an Independent Person who does not work for Shropshire Council. It is their job to make sure the complaints process is being carried out fairly and ensure you are listened to. They are not an advocate. The External Investigating Officer will aim to send you a report within 25 working days.

Stage 3

If you are not satisfied with the decision following the independent investigation at Stage 2 you can ask to have your complaint reviewed by the Complaints Review Panel. Three people who don’t know about your complaint will take a fresh look at it. You can attend the panel meeting if you like, with a friend or someone you trust.

Stage 4 - If you are still unhappy

If you want to take your complaint further, you can contact the Ombudsman at:

You can contact the Ombudsman at any point. However, it is their usual practice not to deal with a complaint until the council’s complaints procedure has been completed.

What you can expect from us…

We will contact you within 3 days of receiving your complaint and let you know what we are doing to help you.

We will send you a full response to your complaint:

  • Within 10 working days in the case of stage 1 (or 20 working days if this has been agreed)
  • Within 65 working days in the case of stage 2 and stage 3 complaints
  • If your complaint progresses to stage 3, we will arrange dates with you

More complicated complaints could take more time to investigate. If this is the case, we will contact you and keep you informed of progress.

We cannot always promise to get the result that you want, but we will make sure that your complaint is dealt with as quickly and as thoroughly as possible and keep you informed of what is happening.