Backlog of 170 unanswered council complaints found

Kent County Council has agreed to write to each of the 170 people identified, to apologise for delays

A watchdog investigation into a council has uncovered a backlog of 170 unanswered complaints regarding children’s services and education.

Response times for complaints have also exceeded the limit set out by Kent County Council (KCC).

The local government and social care ombudsman, Paul Najsarek, said he was concerned for the potential for "significant ongoing injustice".

KCC has apologised and said it recognised it had "fallen short".

The ombudsman was asked to investigate after KCC failed to respond to a mother’s complaint her son had not been provided with speech and language therapy (SALT) for more than 13 months.

Further enquiries showed KCC had 141 overdue special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) stage one complaints and a further 29 overdue SEND stage two complaints.

Average response times for stage one complaints was 43 working days and 51 working days for stage two, exceeding the 20-day timescale set out in council policy.

KCC told Mr Najsarek delays were due to "low staffing levels and high workloads".

Mr Najsarek said: "This cannot excuse the council from performing its duty to these parents".

He added: "I am concerned that there is a potential for significant ongoing injustice to many of the county’s children until the council gets on top of this backlog."

The council accepted his recommendations to improve complaints handling to ensure Kent's children were "not put to a disadvantage.”

The council will compensate £1,800 to the mother and child and will also pay £100 for every month SALT is not set up until it is in place.

A KCC spokesperson said: “We recognise that we have fallen short of the performance people have a right to expect of us.

"We are already working to tackle the backlog and are putting in place measures to improve the way we handle enquiries and complaints."