Merton Council's children's services is facing scrutiny over its handling of complaints, with a significant increase in the number of formal complaints received and a concerningly low rate of timely responses. The issues contributing to the rise in complaints include not meeting response times for both stage one and stage two investigations, a lack of progress in ensuring young people know how to complain, and a concerning absence of complaints directly from children and young people themselves.
During the 2025/26 financial year, the council logged 44 formal stage 1 complaints under the statutory procedure for children's services, a substantial rise from the 29 received the previous year. However, only 13 of these complaints were responded to within the statutory target deadlines.
Concerns were also raised about the timeliness of stage 2 investigations. The Children's Social Care Annual Complaints Report 2025/26 states that 'No complaints were completed within the deadline for stage 2 complaints; this included the extended deadline of 65 working days.' The report further details that delays have been caused by case records not being provided, staff members not engaging with the interview process, and delays at the adjudication stage. All stage 2 investigations are outsourced to RRC, who have experienced delays in appointing investigators due to high complaint volumes.
Despite these challenges, the council received 68 compliments for its children's services directorate during the same period. The council is working to improve its complaint handling processes. A new case management system, Microsoft Dynamics, was introduced in 2023-2024 to help address timeliness issues by providing service teams with easy access to complaints, sending automated reminders, and improving overall functionality. Further development work was undertaken in 2024/25, and a project is underway to incorporate a single system for complaints, member enquiries, FOIs, and SARs to create a more cohesive workforce.
To further upskill staff, training and guidance were provided to relevant officers in advance of the new Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) Code of Guidance implementation. For Children's Services, all complaints officers will be upskilled to handle stage 2 and stage 3 escalations, as currently only one officer manages statutory complaints. For Adult Social Care, officers received advanced notice and attended drop-in sessions to understand the new Corporate Complaints Policy and Code of Guidance.
Merton Council's complaint handling is also monitored by the LGSCO. In their annual letter for 2025/26, the LGSCO noted that Merton Council had an upheld rate of 92% for investigated cases, slightly higher than average, but a materially lower number of upheld decisions per 100,000 population. The Council achieved 100% compliance with LGSCO recommendations and found satisfactory remedies in 0% of upheld cases before they reached the Ombudsman, compared to an average of 14% for similar authorities. The LGSCO published a new Code of Guidance in February 2024, which came into effect in April 2026, mandating shorter timescales for acknowledging and responding to complaints, prompting Merton Council to update its policies and provide training.
It is also noted that the broader report on corporate complaints mentions the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in generating complaints as a contributing factor to increased complaint volumes and complexity across the council, a growing issue requiring technological solutions.
Public reports pack Thursday 03-Sep-2026 19.15 Governance Standards and Audit Committee
