Birmingham City Council is to review the way it responds to complaints about respite care for children with disabilities after it wrongly told families to appeal to the Ombudsman.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman became concerned that the council and Birmingham Children's Trust were sending parents directly to its office to appeal the number of hours they were to receive for respite care, instead of responding to their concerns through the statutory children’s complaints procedure.

The Ombudsman has made it clear to the council that it is not an appeals body.

The ruling came after a mother complained to the Ombudsman about the way the council handled her complaints about the respite it awarded for her teenage son, who has challenging behaviour, autism, anxiety and communication difficulties.

Instead of dealing with the mother’s complaint through the statutory three-stage complaints process, it told her to have her appeal ‘further reviewed by the LGO’.

During the investigation, the Ombudsman found 27 other families had been wrongly told to appeal to the LGSCO in the past year alone.

The council agreed to apologise to the mother, explain how it reached its decision and pay her £500.

It will also amend its complaints policy and appeals process.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: ’The LGSCO looks at complaints about councils and care providers once those complaints have been through the local complaints process.

‘We are not an appeals body, or a tribunal. It is not – and has never been in our near 50 years of existence – our role to decide how much respite parents should receive.

‘I am concerned about the council’s lack of understanding of our role, and of its own duties under the statutory complaints procedure.

‘By directing parents to my office instead of dealing with their complaints properly, the council has denied many families the opportunity to have their concerns looked at in the right way.

‘I am pleased the council has accepted my recommendations and is already working to put in place an amended policy and appeals process to ensure any future complaints it receives are handled properly.’