This section tells you to complain about services that children with autism receive from local authorities. We have a separate section on complaining about NHS treatment of your child.
The complaints procedure for children is a three-stage process.
Stage 1 is the 'informal local resolution' stage. This is where the manager who is responsible for the service you have complained about looks into the complaint and aims to respond to you within ten working days. With some complex complaints, the manager can respond to you within 20 working days.
Occasionally a mediation meeting between you, the manager concerned and the complaints manager is offered. This meeting is an opportunity to talk about the complaint and resolve it in person. However, you do not have to go to the meeting and if you do, you do not have to agree to anything. If you decide to go to the meeting, you can usually take an advocate with you for support. (More about advocates in the 'Help with the complaints process' section, linked to below.)
What if I am not happy with the response to my stage 1 complaint?
Within 20 working days of receiving a stage 1 response, you can write to the complaints manager and ask that the complaint go to the second stage of the process - the 'formal investigation' stage.
Your complaint will then be investigated in more depth with the involvement of an independent person. This time, you should get a response within 25 working days (or for complex cases, within 65 working days).
What if I am not happy with the response to my stage 2 complaint?
If you are not satisfied with a stage 2 response, you can ask for the complaint go to stage 3 - the 'review panel' stage. You must make this request within 20 working days of receiving the stage 2 response.
What happens at stage 3?
At stage 3, the review panel stage, the complaints manager will ask a panel of three independent people to discuss whether the complaint investigation and results were fair. The complaints manager has to do this within 30 working days of receiving your request for a complaint to go to stage 3.
Is there anything else I should know?
Keep copies of all the letters you send to the complaints manager and only ever send copies of important supporting documents. Try not to send the original documents.
If, after you have attempted to resolve an issue through the complaints process but have not had a satisfactory resolution, you have two options - am ombudsman or judicial review.