A West London council has blamed ‘workload issues’ for delays to organising for a woman to see her children more often. Kensington and Chelsea Council has apologised and paid the woman, known only as Miss X, £150 for the distress.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said the council had unintentionally delayed setting up contact between Miss X and her children. Kensington and Chelsea Council became involved with the children due to concerns about their wellbeing and placed them in foster care.
They were later handed over to their parents, with one going to Miss X and two with her former partner, known only as Mr Y. Miss X asked for unsupervised contact with her eldest child in a meeting at the end of July 2023 and was told by a social worker they would look into it and discuss it with the children’s guardian and her ex-partner.
When the ombudsman began investigating, the council said there had been no delay in arranging the unsupervised visits and that they had actually been occurring before September 2023. Miss X refuted this saying the visits didn’t occur until the council approved it.
Kensington and Chelsea Council paid Miss X £150 for the distress
(Image: RBKC)
At a court hearing in early January 2024, the court decided Miss X should be given more supervised contact with her children and the council obliged by providing times and venues. By late February, Miss X began the additional visits at a contact centre near her ex’s home address. The council said it was aware Miss X experienced domestic abuse from Mr Y.
The council said to protect Miss X from her former partner, Miss X and Mr Y would visit their children at the contact centre on different days. When the children went to live with Mr Y, the centre offered staggered arrival times and to escort Miss X to her car.
They said a supervisor was present at all times. Miss X complained in early February 2024 about the delay and made a stage two complaint against the council in March saying she believed the council had deliberately hindered contact with her children.
She said the council had failed to consider the location for handovers and intentionally delayed unsupervised contact with her eldest child. A week later, the council apologised and said the delay was not deliberate.
They said they only had two contact centres and so it was not always possible to agree to requests about location. The council said they had considered Miss X’s safety concerns about Mr Y and that the contact with her eldest child had been unsupervised and so the council had no involvement in the arrangement.
Miss X complained to the ombudsman and the council acknowledged the delay in setting up contact for six weeks. They said this was due to a combination of workload issues and difficulties finding a suitable day at the contact centre.
Kensington and Chelsea Council said it worked out an extra day of contact for Miss X with her children to compensate for the delay. The ombudsman said the delays had caused ‘avoidable frustration and distress’ to Miss X.
They added: “This fault was caused by workload issues and I see no evidence of it being deliberate as Miss X suggests.” The watchdog added the council had considered Miss X’s safety with setting up contact with Mr Y present and found no fault around unsupervised contact between the mum and her eldest child.
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