Summary: The Council was at fault for how it considered what financial support to provide Mr and Mrs X with. As a result, they cannot be sure they have received all of the financial support they should have to help them care for their grandchildren. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr and Mrs X and consider whether they should receive any further financial payments.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has not provided him and his wife, Mrs X, with adequate financial support after they took their grandchildren into their care. Mr X says:
1. They were not provided with adequate guidance about the financial support available regarding the care of their grandchildren.
2. They were not provided with sufficient financial support to help them meet their grandchildren’s needs.
3. The Council did not assess them as foster carers despite starting this process in September 2021.

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What I have and have not investigated

2. I have not looked at the decision not to assess Mr and Mrs X as foster carers. There have been court proceedings in this case and as part of these proceedings the Council explained to the Court how it made its decision not to consider Mr and Mrs X as foster carers.
3. This investigation focuses on the financial support the Council provided Mr and Mrs X with under section 17 Children’s Act 1989.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. 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)
6. The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
7. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

8. As part of this investigation, I considered the information provided by Mr X. I discussed the complaint with Mr X over the telephone. I made enquiries with the Council and considered the information received in response. I sent a draft of this decision to Mr X and the Council and considered the comments received in response.

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What I found

Law and guidance

9. Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 says councils shall provide accommodation to any child in need within their area who needs it, because:
• there is nobody with parental responsibility to care for them;
• they have been lost or abandoned; or
• the person who has been caring for them being prevented from providing suitable accommodation or care.
10. Councils cannot accommodate a child under section 20 if a person holding parental responsibility objects and is willing and able to care for the child or arrange care for the child.
11. Councils need to distinguish between private arrangements made between parents and carers, and arrangements in which the child is accommodated under the Children Act 1989 and so is a looked after child.
12. Special Guardianship is an order made by the Family Court that places a child or young person to live with someone other than their parent(s) on a long-term basis. The person with whom a child is placed will become the child’s Special Guardian.
13. Government guidance on the Special Guardianship Regulations sets out the circumstances in which councils should provide financial support to a Special Guardian. These include situations where there is a financial obstacle to a guardianship arrangement being made, and where the child requires special care. There is no overall obligation on councils to provide support in every case in which a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) is made.
14. If support is provided the council must review the arrangements at least once a year.
15. Under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, councils with social services functions have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need in their area. A child with a disability is considered to be a child in need. Under the Act, councils can provide financial assistance to a child or family. Such financial assistance may be unconditional or subject to repayment in full or part. Before providing financial assistance, councils should consider the child or parents’ financial circumstances. The courts have said the functions of a council under Section 17 of the Act can extend to providing major adaptations to a child’s home.

What happened

16. There has been extensive correspondence between Mr and Mrs X, and the Council since August 2021. In this section of the statement I summarise key events but I do not refer to every single contact and communication. I have also only referred to key events about financial support and have not included details about the care proceedings which were ongoing at the time.
17. Mr and Mrs X have three grandchildren by their daughter. In August 2021, Mr and Mrs X’s daughter was assaulted by her partner at her home and ended up in hospital. After receiving a telephone call from their eldest grandchild Mr and Mrs X went to collect their grandchildren and took them into their care. The police also attended and took the partner into custody. Mr X said the policed asked him and Mrs X if they could remove the children.
18. In the weeks that followed Social Workers from the Council visited the grandchildren who were under the care of Mr and Mrs X. During these visits in August 2021, Mr and Mrs X told the Council they could not access the grandchildren’s home as it was a crime scene and had to buy essential items for them such as clothes, bedding and school uniforms. The Council agreed to pay Mr and Mrs X £500 to support with the cost of this and also offered to fund legal advice for Mr and Mrs X so they were aware of their options.
19. In September 2021, Council provided funding so the three grandchildren could receive therapeutic intervention. The Council also contacted Mr and Mrs X to arrange an assessment to see if they could be approved as temporary foster carers for their grandchildren. The Council decided to cancel this assessment in October 2021 after Mr and Mrs X’s daughter (the mother of their grandchildren) was discharged from hospital and came to live at Mr and Mrs X’s home.
20. In December 2021, the Court granted a child arrangement order so the grandchildren would live with Mr and Mrs X.
21. In March 2022, the Council agreed to look at whether it could provide Mr and Mrs X with any discretionary funding. In April 2022, the Council held a finance agreement meeting. The Council agreed to provide Mr and Mrs X with £234 per week. This was to support them with food, fuel and other costs for the grandchildren.
22. In June 2022, Mr and Mrs X complained to the Council about the level of financial support they had received. Mr and Mrs X said they should have received foster care allowance for looking after the grandchildren. Through the complaints process Mr and Mrs X argued the Council did not ask them how they were managing financially when they began caring for their grandchildren.
23. The Council’s final position was:
• Mr and Mrs X made the decision to care for their grandchildren and they were never looked after children or placed with Mr and Mrs X under a fostering arrangement.
• Fostering was never appropriate as the children’s mother was coming to live with Mr and Mrs X.
• The Council gave Mr and Mrs X discretionary payments based around early conversations it had with them. The Council initially agreed to pay Mr and Mrs X £234 per week from April 2022. The Council then agreed to backdate this to February 2022 and then agreed to backdate these payments to January 2022.
• In relation to the period from August 2021 to December 2021, the Council said Mr and Mrs X did not advise the Council they were struggling financially and needed financial support. The Council said it checked in with Mr and Mrs X at various points to see how they were coping financially.

Mr X remained dissatisfied and complained to the Ombudsman.

Analysis

24. Mr and Mrs X initially raised issues about financial support in August 2021 as they were unable to access the grandchildren’s home to get clothes and essential possessions. As a result, the Council agreed to make a £500 payment to support with these.
25. Since this time the Council’s position was that it checked in with Mr and Mrs X at various points about finances and thought they did not need support. Mr and Mrs X’s position was that that the Council did not discuss finances with them since August 2021. Mr and Mrs X said they told the Council at this time they were alright with finances but the situation was not sustainable and they would soon need support.
26. From the Social Worker’s notes I cannot see that the Council regularly checked in with Mr and Mrs about finances or discussed this with them. This was fault. As the Council had made a one-off payment of £500 in August 2021 it would have been appropriate for the Council to assess whether they needed any ongoing financial support at that stage.
27. The Council only looked at whether Mr and Mrs X needed financial assistance in April 2022 and backdated this assistance to January 2022. The financial support the Council provided was towards food, fuel, clothes etc. These are costs Mr and Mrs X would have incurred from August 2021, when they started to care for their grandchildren. It is not clear why the Council has not considered backdating the payments further. The notes provided from the finance agreement meeting did not say anything about whether the Council considered backdating financial payments to August 2021. This was fault.

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Agreed action

28. Within one month of my final decision the Council agreed to carry out the following:
• Apologise to Mr and Mrs X for the fault identified.
• Look at this case again and see whether Mr and Mrs X should receive any further section 17 payments backdated to August 2021. If not, the Council should write to Mr and Mrs X explaining its reasons for this and outlining what factors it considered.
29. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

30. I have completed my investigation and found the Council was at fault and this caused injustice. The Council agreed to the above actions to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman