Kingston Upon Hull City Council (24 007 085)
Category : Children's care services > Fostering
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 11 Oct 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has failed to make age-related increases to the financial support paid to the complainant in respect of a young person in his care. This is because the complaint is late and there are no grounds to investigate it now.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains that the Council failed to make age-related increases to the financial support paid for a young person in his care.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X was granted a Residence Order for a child in 2008. He says the Council agreed to make age-related increases to the financial support it was to provide, in the same way as it does for fostering allowance. His complaint is that it has not done so.
- In response to Mr X’s complaint, the Council has stated that the financial support agreed in 2008 did not include a commitment to age-related increases. However, it says the documents do include evidence of a verbal agreement to some form of increases. In these circumstances, it has agreed to increase payment to the current fostering rate, and to backdate the increase to October 2023. Mr X is not satisfied with this outcome, and wants the increase backdated for the whole period.
- The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. Mr X did not complain to us about the failure to make age-related increases between 2008 and 2024. He has been aware of the matter for more than 12 months and there are no grounds for us to investigate the complaint now.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no grounds for us to investigate it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman