East Sussex County Council (20 010 365)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 21-Jul-2021
Summary: Miss X complains about the Council's decision to refuse to allow her to supervise contact between a child and their father. We find fault with how the Council made its decision that it was inappropriate for family members to supervise contact. We have made recommendations.
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (20 004 109)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 21-Jun-2021
Summary: the Council was entitled to reclaim the special guardianship allowance overpayment for Mrs G's eldest child. However, the Council should have made age-related increases to the special guardianship allowance it paid. The Council has re-calculated the payments and reduced the amount Mrs G owes. The Council has offered to write off the remaining balance, so Mrs G now owes nothing. The Council will also review the payments of other families to check they have received the correct allowance.
Milton Keynes Council (20 007 504)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 08-Jun-2021
Summary: Miss B says the Council failed to provide her with support for a child she holds a special guardianship order for. There is no fault by the Council except in the delay identifying a suitable therapist to provide either mediation or family therapy. An apology to Miss B and agreement to put the therapy into place is satisfactory remedy.
Liverpool City Council (20 007 396)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 07-Jun-2021
Summary: Mrs D complained about the Council's investigation into her complaints about children's services. She said the Council delayed the complaint investigation, its stage 2 report was not thorough, and it did not arrange a stage 3 review panel. Mrs D said this put her to time and trouble chasing the Council to fulfil its statutory duties. We found fault with the Council causing injustice. The Council will carry out a new stage 2 complaint investigation and pay Mrs D a financial remedy to remedy this injustice. It will also provide staff training.
Brighton & Hove City Council (20 001 244)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 27-May-2021
Summary: Mr X complains that the Council wrongly considered his and Mrs X's care of their grandchildren to be a family arrangement. The Council is at fault for wrongly considering Mr and Mrs X's care of their grandchildren to be a family arrangement. As a result Mr and Mrs X suffered financial loss as the Council did not pay foster carers allowance to them. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by paying a foster carers' allowance to Mr and Mrs X for the six month period they looked after their grandchildren.
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council (19 020 206)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 19-May-2021
Summary: Mrs B complains about the Council's failure to provide sufficient support to her family since they started caring for two children and for its handling of her complaints about this. The Council was at fault for not completing support plan annual reviews for special guardians for at least five years, which has caused significant injustice to Mrs B and her family. The Council was also at fault for failing to complete recommendations following Mrs B's stage two complaint and arranging a stage three complaint review. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice caused to Mrs B and her family.
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 17-May-2021
Summary: Mrs X complains about the Council's handling of her special guardianship of her nephew, Child Y. We find the Council at fault for failing to secure Child Y's legal status in Spain (where he now lives with Mrs X) and for its handling of her complaints. The Council has agreed to remedy the significant injustice caused to Child Y and Mrs X, and work to resolve all issues around his legal status as soon as possible. The Council will also review its procedures to embed recent caselaw.
Plymouth City Council (20 000 871)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 05-May-2021
Summary: Mrs X complained the Council wrongly reduced her Special Guardian Allowance and failed to provide her family with support. She also says it caused delays and failed to correct its errors after she complained. The Council's independent investigation found significant faults and it took action to remedy the injustice caused. Mrs X believed the remedies were inadequate. The Ombudsman finds the Council's faults caused Mrs X and her family an injustice. The Council has agreed make payment to acknowledge the distress, uncertainty, loss of opportunity and time and trouble they experienced. It also agreed to review its current support to the family. In addition, it will also review its procedures for Special Guardians and ensure its staff are aware of these.
Essex County Council (20 006 635)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 04-May-2021
Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to follow the course of action it set out when a young person came to live with her. The Council was at fault in how it shared information with Mrs X and dealt with her complaints. This caused her uncertainty. The Council will apologise to Mrs X and remind staff they must give suitable information to potential informal carers.
North Somerset Council (19 014 414)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 29-Apr-2021
Summary: The complainant alleged that the Council failed to regard her nephew, who she cares for, as a child in care and, if it had, the Council would have had to provide both financial and other support to her and to her nephew. We find fault in that the Council failed to recognise that it played a significant part in placing the nephew with the complainant and it did not give reasons for not exercising its discretion to investigate the complaint out of time. The Council has agreed the recommended actions to remedy the injustice caused.