Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about court and legal costs. There are no sufficient reasons to investigate her complaint about events known to her for more than 12 months. And there is no worthwhile outcome achievable in investigating her complaint about failures to provide financial support for caring for a child in the last 12 months.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council failed to pay her an allowance for caring for a child, Y.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. Mrs X moved into this Council’s area in 2022. Y was living with her. Y is an extended family member. Mrs X applied to Court for an order to become Y’s Special Guardian (SGO). The Court granted an SGO in December 2023.
8. In July 2024 Mrs X says she asked her solicitors to complain to the Council about the lack of financial support. Mrs X says it was not clear how to complain and the Council did not reply to requests for information about it. In May 2025 Mrs X complained again to the Council about the lack of financial support. The Council agreed to pay SGO allowance and to backpay this to the start of the SGO in December 2023.
9. Mrs X believes the Council should pay her an allowance from when she moved into its area.
10. Mrs X says she incurred extra costs in the Court proceedings because the Council was not supportive nor compliant.

Analysis

11. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s Court and legal costs. The Court order shows it considered making a costs order. We cannot investigate issues a Court did or could have considered.
12. Mrs X has known about the lack of financial support since she moved into the area in 2022. She did not complain to us until September 2025. The Council’s complaint responses cover up to four months of that time. I have considered Mrs X’s comments that her and her solicitors could not find how to complain before May 2025. Finding out how to complain is easily accessible on the Council’s website. Therefore there are no good reasons to consider her complaint about matters before December 2023.
13. We are unlikely to achieve any worthwhile outcome for any failure to pay support in the 12 months before Mrs X complained to us. The Council has agreed to pay her SGO allowance for that period of time.

Back to top

Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we cannot investigate her claim for court and legal costs. The are no sufficient reasons to consider her complaint about events known to her for more than 12 months before she complained to us. And there is no worthwhile outcome achievable for her complaint about failures to pay support in the last 12 months.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman