A mum has won £500 after a South London council failed her son who was abducted by county line gangsters and made to sell drugs.

Lambeth Council delayed providing the boy with a Child Protection Plan – a document that sets out how social services will keep a child at serious risk of harm safe.

It finally provided him with one in August 2018 over a year after his mum, known as Miss X, had raised concerns about his behaviour.

Police twice found the boy, known as Mr Y, over a 100 miles away in Norfolk while on bail for offences including the supply of drugs in 2017.

He was supposed to be staying at his dad’s house but refused to go there. In May 2018, he went missing again and later said he had been abducted but Lambeth Council waited until August 2018 before providing the boy with a Child Protection Plan.

The following month he was judged to be a victim of human trafficking. 

The local government ombudsman – which regulates councils – ordered Lambeth to pay Mr Y’s mum £500 for its delays in providing help to her son and dealing with her complaint.

Its report from March 8 reads: “The council’s delay in taking intervention measures to safeguard Mr Y and the failings in its service to Miss X amount to fault.

"As does the delay in completing the complaint process.

"This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

“The council has agreed to pay Miss X £500 in recognition of the distress and anxiety the delays and failings in the council’s service has caused, and the length of time taken to complete the complaint process.”

Miss X first complained to Lambeth Council about its handling of her son’s case in September 2019, but the local authority took over a year to provide her with a response to her second stage complaint.

It eventually completed an investigation into her second complaint in January 2021. The council accepted it had not provided Mr Y with a Child Protection Plan until August 2018, despite the boy allegedly being in debt to traffickers. 

The ombudsman report reads: “There are strict timescales for responding to complaints about children’s social care services.

"Councils should respond to a complaint at stage 1 within 10 days of receiving it.

"A stage 2 investigation should take no more than 25 days for a simple complaint and no more than 65 days if the complaint is more complex.

"If a complaint goes to stage 3, a Review Panel should meet within 30 days of the request.

“The Council’s failure to meet these timeframes amounts to fault. Miss X made a stage 1 complaint in September 2019, but the stage 2 investigation was not concluded until January 2021.

"Such significant delays are unacceptable and will have caused Miss X additional unnecessary frustration and distress.”

A Lambeth Council spokesperson said: “The council agrees with the Ombudsman’s recommendation that Miss X should receive £500 in recognition of the distress and anxiety caused, and the length of time taken to complete the complaint process. We apologise to her for these failings.

“This is a complex case with serious impacts on one of our young people and his family. We have closely analysed the outcomes of this complaint, and have implemented the recommendations for service improvements made by the independent investigator.

“Protecting young people from the cruel and callous criminal exploitation created by those who organise ‘county lines’ drug dealing is a huge national challenge.

"In Lambeth are working hard with our communities, and our community sector partners, to develop new and stronger ways of tackling this horrific trade.”

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