Summary: Miss X complains the Council has failed to provide emotional and financial support to her as carer of her grandchildren and she is unhappy with outcome and its handling of a financial assessment. Miss X says the children and her have suffered distress and financial loss. The Ombudsman has discontinued its investigation to allow the Council the opportunity to complete its complaints process.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council has failed to provide any emotional or financial support since she took on the care of her two grandchildren, causing distress and financial loss.
2. Miss X also complains about the Council’s decision on a recent financial assessment and the service it provided in dealing with this. She says its decision is wrong and the Council caused stress and put her to time and trouble.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))
5. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
6. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I spoke to Miss X and I reviewed documents provided by Miss X and the Council. I gave Miss X and the Council the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision and I considered the comments provided.

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What I found

8. The law sets out a three stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services.
9. Stage 1 is local resolution, with the council providing a response within 10 working days.
10. Stage 2 is an independent investigation. The council will consider the report of the investigator and provide a response within 25 working days of receiving a request to go to stage 2. An extension of up to 65 days may be agreed.
11. Stage 3 is a review panel, which should meet within 30 days of a request to go to stage 3. The panel should provide its report within five working days of the meeting. And the council should respond within 15 days of the report.
12. If a complainant remains unhappy after stage 3 they can complain to the Ombudsman.
13. Government guidance “Getting the best from complaints” makes clear that councils can only vary from the statutory complaints procedure in exceptional circumstances.

What happened

14. Miss X took care of her grandchild, Y, in 2016 and her second grandchild, Z, in 2017.
15. In 2019 Miss X became a Special Guardian of Y and Z.
16. In August 2019 Miss X complained to the Ombudsman that the Council had failed to provide any emotional or financial support since she started caring for her grandchildren.
17. The Ombudsman asked the Council to consider this complaint.
18. The Council provided a stage 1 response under the statutory process on 12 September 2019. The Council explained Miss X had entered a private family arrangement and she had not asked for support before. However, it offered to carry out a financial assessment to see if she was eligible for any support.
19. The Council says the complaint was resolved at stage 1. However, Miss X remains unhappy with the response and says she made this clear to the Council.
20. The Council completed a financial assessment and found Miss X was not entitled to financial support.
21. Miss X says she complained about this outcome but following a review the outcome remained the same. Miss X continues to dispute the outcome. She is also unhappy with how the Council handled the assessment, explaining staff were unhelpful, rude and provided a poor service.
22. However, the Council says it has not received any complaint from Miss X about the financial assessment.

My findings

23. Miss X remains unhappy with the stage 1 response to her children’s services complaint. However, the statutory complaints process is not yet complete and so it is not appropriate for the Ombudsman to investigate at this time. I will therefore discontinue my investigation into this complaint to allow the Council the opportunity to progress to stage 2 of the statutory process.
24. Miss X is unhappy with the outcome of a recent financial assessment. However, I cannot say the Council’s decision is wrong, rather I can only consider if there was fault in the decision making process. For example, if the Council based its decision on incorrect information. Miss X has not told me of any errors in the decision making process and it does not appear she has raised any complaint about such errors to the Council. I will therefore discontinue my investigation into this complaint because it is unlikely I would find fault and because it does not appear the Council has yet had reasonable opportunity to investigate and reply.
25. Miss X is also unhappy about the service provided by the Council in arranging and handling the financial assessment. However, I will discontinue my investigation into this complaint because it does not appear the Council has had a reasonable opportunity to investigate and reply.
26. I expect the Council to now consider Miss X’s complaints about the financial assessment, in addition to progressing her stage 1 children’s services complaint to stage 2.

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Final decision

27. I have discontinued my investigation into Miss X’s complaints. This is because it is reasonable to allow the Council the opportunity to investigate and reply.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman