1. The number of Stage 2 children’s social care complaints currently delayed beyond the statutory 65 working day timescale, and the length of each delay.
At present, the council does not have any open complaints at stage two of ‘The Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006’ that have exceeded the statutory timescale of 65 working days.

2. Details of efforts made in the last 12 months to recruit or appoint Stage 2 investigators and Independent Persons (e.g. number of recruitment attempts, adverts placed, or agencies approached).
Wokingham Borough Council is part of the Southern Regional Complaints Manager’s Group (SRCMG) – which is made up of Complaint’s Managers employed within local authorities in the southern region of the nation. The group collectively maintains a schedule of independent professionals who are qualified and experienced in acting as Investigating Officer’s (IO) and/or Independent Persons (IP) on complaints received at stages two and three of ‘The Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006’.

When appointing to roles of IO and IP on stage two complaint investigations, the Complaints Manager within Children’s Services will refer to the schedule and make contact with prospective IOs/IPs to confirm their interest/availability to act in said roles, along with confirmation of their rates for services. Provided they do have the capacity and their quoted rates are reasonable, they will be formally commissioned to conduct the complaints investigation.

The last full set of data we have to refer to is the 2024-’25 financial year. In this period, there were ten cases that were escalated to stage two. For these complaints, there 36 contacts made to enquire about availability to act on these particular complaints. This includes those who confirmed availability to act as either IO or IP, and those unsuccessful attempts – i.e. where professionals did not have the capacity to progress the investigation.

3. Any contingency plans, policies, or procedures the Council has in place when Stage 2 investigators cannot be appointed within statutory timescales.
Whilst there are not formally recorded contingency plans/policies in place that cover such an eventuality, the council will continue to proactively make attempts to contact with prospective IOs/IPs until appointments have been made.
In exceptional circumstances, we will refer to the SRCMG for advices as to whether there are options outside of the Southern Region who may be available to conduct the investigation.

4. The cost to the Council in the last 12 months of commissioning external investigators for Stage 2 complaints, compared with the estimated cost of conducting investigations internally.
Focussing on the same period referred to in response to question two – i.e. the 2024-’25 financial year – the total cost in commissioning both IOs and IPs to act on statutory children’s social care complaints received at stage two was £12,119.00.
We cannot provide an estimate as to what the cost of conducting stage two complaint investigations internally would be, as we have not yet reviewed what the real term implications would be to the service/organisation – in terms of staffing resource, operationally etc. That is not to say that this will not be considered in the near future.