Plymouth City Council (19 000 933)

Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 04-Oct-2019

Summary: Mrs D complains the Council has wrongly reduced the amount it pays her as a special guardian and failed to provide other assistance. The Council was not at fault in how it dealt with payments to Mrs D as a special guardian but it did not follow the statutory complaint process. Mrs D did not suffer any injustice because of this.

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (19 002 628)

Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 03-Oct-2019

Summary: The Council failed to consider Mr X’s complaints under the statutory children’s complaints process. The Council has now agreed to consider Mr X’s complaint at stage 2 of the process.

London Borough of Lewisham (18 010 370)

Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 20-Sep-2019

Summary: Ms X complains the Council has refused to provide financial support since asking her to care for a child, Y in February 2014. Ms X also complains the Council failed to respond to her complaint within the statutory timescales. The Council’s failure to treat Y as a Looked after Child and provide appropriate support since placing him with Ms X amounts to fault. As does the failure to respond to Ms X’s complaint within the statutory timescales. These faults have caused Ms X an injustice.

Salford City Council (18 018 462)

Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 05-Sep-2019

Summary: Mr X complained the Council’s overpayment of fostering allowance has caused his family stress, anxiety and inconvenience. The Council has accepted it was at fault, and has offered a financial remedy to Mr X. We consider this remedies Mr X’s injustice.

London Borough of Barnet (17 018 374)

Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 22-Aug-2019

Summary: Ms X complained the Council did not pay her the same financial support as mainstream foster carers while she was a family and friend carer. She also said its decision to deduct child benefit from her Special Guardianship Allowance went against the Government’s guidance. The Council paid Ms X the same fostering allowance as mainstream carers. However, it did not offer the opportunity to complete training that would have allowed her to be paid the additional skills fee. That meant Ms X did not receive as much money as she could have been entitled to earn. The Ombudsman finds the Council was at fault. The Council should remedy the injustice caused by paying Ms X the skills fee for the period she was a family and friend carer. The Council was not at fault in how it calculated the Special Guardianship Allowance.

Lancashire County Council (18 003 345)

Report Upheld Friends and family carers 14-Aug-2019

Summary: Ms B, who looks after her two grandchildren under a fostering arrangement, complains that the Council has failed to act in line with a Care Order regarding funding for an extension to her home and a people carrier vehicle.

London Borough of Harrow (19 003 169)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Friends and family carers 31-Jul-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s children services team’s preparation and content of an assessment on her. It is part of Court proceedings and we cannot investigate Court proceedings.

City of Doncaster Council (19 004 323)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Friends and family carers 31-Jul-2019

Summary: Ms B complains about the Council’s decision to take her husband’s earnings into account in assessing eligibility for Special Guardianship Allowance payments for her niece. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

London Borough of Brent (18 005 967)

Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 30-Jul-2019

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to pay her Special Guardianship Allowance between 2015 and 2017. She said that caused her financial hardship. She said the Council also delayed in restarting her Special Guardianship Allowance in 2017 and in dealing with her complaint. The Council was at fault for stopping Mrs X’s Special Guardianship Allowance. The Council has already paid Mrs X the Special Guardianship Allowance it owed her and an additional £3300. That remedies the fault.

Durham County Council (19 002 500)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Friends and family carers 30-Jul-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms J’s complaint about the Council’s decision to place her daughter with foster carers. This is because the law does not let us investigate what happened in court.