Equality and Human Rights Commission

This practice guide examines policies and procedures to ensure that children and young people are able to make complaints and express their concerns in confidence that they will be listened to and taken seriously. It contains insights gained during a review of Welsh local authority social services published in 2003 by the Children's Commissioner for Wales. Specifically, it aims to support local authorities to implement the recommendations made in the review about complaints. It is also of wider relevance to public authorities in Britain that wish to strengthen their complaints procedures for children and young people. It does not refer in detail to human rights standards; however, it is underpinned by human rights as the Children's Commissioner for Wales has express responsibility for protecting children's rights as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It can be read in conjunction with companion guides on whistleblowing and advocacy.

• Children and young people must feel confident that their wishes and views will be taken into account when decisions are made about them.
• Local authorities should make special arrangements to ensure easy access to complaints procedures for marginalised or 'hard to reach' children and young people.
• The handling and investigating of complaints should be - and be seen to be - transparent and independent of the service being complained about.
  

Background to this practice guide

In 2002, the Children's Commissioner for Wales reviewed the operation of complaints, whistleblowing procedures and arrangements for the provision of children's advocacy services in Welsh local authorities.

The review, Telling Concerns, was published in 2003. It refers expressly to earlier recommendations made in the 2000 report Lost in Care after the inquiry by Sir Ronald Waterhouse into abuse in children's homes in North Wales stretching back 25 years.

In each area, the 2003 review identified recommendations of greatest strategic significance for social services. In relation to complaints, these included:

• a 'one stop shop' approach to receiving complaints from children and young people about any service, rather than one that is artificially divided between, say, governance and service delivery.
• accessible complaints procedures for 'looked after' children and young people, particularly if they are in placements a long way from their home authority.

Using the practice guide

This short guide uses an extended case study to explain how this and other recommendations can be put into practice.

The case study involves 14 year old Sin, who has moderate learning difficulties and lives with foster carers. Against Sin's expressed wishes, social services approve her aunt as a foster carer, believing that this is the best long-term option for her. Sin wants to stay with her current foster carers who live much closer to her half siblings. Her foster carers agree to support her to make a formal complaint to social services.

At each stage in the scenario, the guide explains, with reference to examples from Welsh authorities:

• the options open to Sin, her foster carers and the social services staff concerned
• what laws and policies they need to be aware of (in particular, the Children Act 1989), and
• what an effective complaints policy and procedure looks like.

The guide is short and readable, but would benefit from clearer signposting to convey its key messages.

Key messages in the practice guide

The primary message is that children and young people need to feel confident that their wishes and views will be taken into account when decisions are made about them.

In order to achieve this, the guide says that local authorities should:

• be proactive in providing information that is child-centred and that demonstrates that complaints can and do lead to change.
• ensure that foster carers - along with all other staff - are informed, supported and receive training on the complaints process.
• make special arrangements to ensure access to the complaints procedure for marginalised or 'hard to reach' young people; for example, those who have a learning difficulty and/or a physical disability; come from ethnic minorities or traveller families, or are very young.
• make the first difficult step of voicing a complaint as easy as possible for a child or young person with respect to, for example, contacting social services out of office hours and having clear and reassuring answer phone messages for callers.
• appoint a dedicated Children's Complaints Officer with the requisite skill and knowledge base and the ability to communicate effectively with children and young people.
• ensure that during the life of the complaint, all decisions about service provision for the child or young person are frozen (unless they are at risk of significant harm).
• ensure that the child or young person is supported where appropriate by an informal advocate of their choosing, such as a friend or relative, and that lay advocates are guided by the professional advocate appointed by the local authority.
• ensure that there is no conflict of interest or any perception of one; in particular, that the complaints officer and anyone involved in investigating a complaint is independent of both professional line management and the direct service provider.

Related equality messages (if applicable)

The guide makes no specific reference to equality or non-discrimination.

Other important information

As above - would benefit from clearer signposting to convey key messages.

Date of review

March 2011

• Children's Commissioner for Wales (2004) Telling Concerns Practice Guides: Whistleblowing
  www.childcom.org.uk/uploads/publications/22.pdf
• Children's Commissioner for Wales (2004) Telling Concerns Practice Guides: Advocacy
  http://www.childcom.org.uk/uploads/publications/13.pdf
• Children's Commissioner for Wales (2003) Telling Concerns: Report of the Children's Commissioner for Wales' Review of the operation of Complaints and Representations and Whistleblowing procedures and arrangements for the provision of Children's Advocacy Services
  www.childcom.org.uk/uploads/publications/29.pdf
• Welsh Assembly Government (2005) Listening and learning: A guide to handling complaints and representations in local authority social services in Wales
  http://wales.gov.uk/dhss/publications/socialcare/guidance/listening/listeninge.pdf;jsessionid=qnKsNQhH9DgyTsFhlgGZ0vhx81nkmjyGTs4Wyyy9q2Bv5tT20pjS!-67787307?lang=en
  

We hope that you found the resource helpful and easy to use. Please let us know about other guidance or references that you think we should include. Send us your feedback.