Recent statements in this category are shown below:
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Norfolk County Council (24 004 912)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 16-Dec-2024
Summary: Mr X complains the Council incorrectly deducted an amount equivalent to Child Benefit from his Special Guardianship Allowance. Mr X also says in addition the Council changed the amount paid to him in 2021. Mr X says this has caused him financial loss. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for deducting the amount of child benefit received from the Special Guardianship Allowance. The Council has agreed to issue an apology and repay the amount deducted back to September 2017.
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Swindon Borough Council (24 010 356)
Statement Closed after initial enquiries Friends and family carers 02-Dec-2024
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council declining to conduct a viability assessment for Ms X to care for a child. She has confirmed a judge has since ordered the Council to assess which means the matters she complains of either were or could reasonably have been raised in court. A legal bar now prevents us investigating the matters Ms X complains of.
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Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council (24 010 681)
Statement Closed after initial enquiries Friends and family carers 27-Nov-2024
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the outcome of the statutory procedure for complaints about children’s services. This is because there is insufficient evidence that the outcome is so flawed as to warrant our intervention.
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Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council (24 008 032)
Statement Closed after initial enquiries Friends and family carers 26-Nov-2024
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to provide the complainant with appropriate support for the care of his grandchildren. This is because the Council has accepted that the complainant was a connected foster carer and we would not seek to achieve anything further at this point.
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Reading Borough Council (24 008 148)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 25-Nov-2024
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about children services’ actions. We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint as the Council has now agreed to follow the Children Act statutory complaints’ procedure.
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Derby City Council (23 015 409)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 11-Nov-2024
Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to provide appropriate financial support when she was a kinship carer (also known as a family and friends foster carer) for her grandchildren. Ms X said she financially supported the children as well as caring for them, which had a financial impact. She said it impacted her mental health and caused unnecessary distress. We find the Council at fault, and this caused Ms X injustice. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Ms X.
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Wakefield City Council (23 005 781)
Statement Not upheld Friends and family carers 31-Oct-2024
Summary: Ms X complains the Council failed to provide her with consistent financial and practical support to enable her to care for her niece Y, as a Special Guardian since 2020. We have found no evidence of fault by the Council in the way it has considered Ms X's application for an SGO allowance in 2023 and request for financial help. So, we are minded to complete our investigation.
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London Borough of Hounslow (23 010 319)
Statement Upheld Friends and family carers 30-Oct-2024
Summary: Mrs X complained that the Council has declined to accept that it placed her grandchild with her and that she is, therefore, a family and friends carer. She says that, as a result, she has been denied financial support to which she is entitled. We did not uphold Mrs X’s complaint. However, we found the Council was at fault in failing to have a policy on family and friends foster carers as required by law. The Council has agreed to publish a written policy.
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Milton Keynes Council (24 009 012)
Statement Closed after initial enquiries Friends and family carers 28-Oct-2024
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Special Guardianship Order allowance paid to the complainant. This is because there is no evidence of fault on the Council’s part.
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Durham County Council (24 008 170)
Statement Closed after initial enquiries Friends and family carers 17-Oct-2024
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in Mrs and Mr X’s grandchildren’s case. The complaint is not separable from matters that have been considered in court.