Summary: Mrs V complained the Council had not made appropriate payments to support the Special Guardianship Order she held. She thought the Council should pay a mileage allowance for her granddaughter to attend a school outside the county where she lived. Mrs V said a new assessment that had been carried out on the family in November was incorrect. There is no evidence of Council fault. Further, the complaint about the November assessment has not yet been considered by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs V, said she and her husband were special guardians for their granddaughter W. She said the Council had refused to pay mileage costs to transport W to school.
2. Mrs V said the Council failed to follow advice from the court that “they should not receive less that the current fostering allowance”. She also said the assessment completed by the Council in November 2019 was incorrect.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. 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)
5. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review.(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
6. If we are satisfied with a council’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

7. I considered the information Mrs V sent with her complaint. I have looked at the Special Guardianship Guidance (2017) and I accessed the National Health Service (NHS) website. I sent a copy of my draft decision to Mrs V and the Council and took the comments they made into account before issuing a decision.

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What I found

8. The complaints about the amount of money Mrs V receives as a special guardianship payment are too old for us to investigate robustly. She became a special guardian in 2012.
9. Mrs V would have been aware in 2014 that she was not receiving certain allowances she had received when she was a foster carer (such as holiday allowances). She was able to make complaints to the Council once she knew this to be the case. I am not exercising discretion to consider her complaints about these aspects now even though the Council considered them when Mrs V complained to it later. I note that, in relation to allowances, the Special Guardianship support plan for W says the family ‘may also be entitled’ to them not that it ‘will’ be entitled to them.
10. The Special Guardianship Guidance (2017) is clear that special guardianship is not the same as fostering even though the basis for payments in both cases is the ‘minimum fostering allowance’. The guidance highlights a two-year period during which the same allowances payable to foster carers can be paid to special guardians who previously fostered the child or children. It says; “The purpose of the two year transitional provision is to enable local authorities to maintain payments to foster carers who become special guardians, at the same rate as they received when they were fostering the child. This should give the family time to adjust to their new circumstances”. Further, special guardianship allowances are means tested. To receive ongoing payments, proof needs to be given of income and outgoings; this is also set out in the 2017 Guidance.
11. Mrs V told me she was asked to sign an agreement in 2018 to be paid £210.97 per week, which was below the minimum fostering allowance of £214.69. The Council highlighted to me that this was because it took off the amount of child benefit. There is no evidence of fault. Councils can consider child benefit in their calculations for special guardianship payments as foster carers are not able to claim it.
12. Mrs V believes the Council should provide a mileage allowance to enable her to take W to and from school. Mileage allowances would not normally be paid to special guardians as they can choose a school for the children they hold Special Guardianship Orders for. Foster carers do not have this choice. They often need to maintain a child at a school that is some distance away from where they live to allow the child continuity even through different placements. Mrs V chose a fee-paying school for W that is not in the county where she lives. There is no right for parents or special guardians to have free transport to specific types of school. Mrs V told us that W needed to attend that school as she has special educational needs. The National Health Service website explains: “A child or young person has special educational needs…if they have a learning difficulty and/or a disability that means they need special health and education support, we shorten this to SEND”. W does not have SEND. The Special Guardianship Support Plan for W also highlights; “There are no education needs for W for the special guardians which require support”. As part of its complaints response, the Council agreed to make additional payments for transporting W to school in 2019/20 and 2020/21. I cannot achieve any more for Mrs V by investigating this further.
13. Mrs V says the assessment carried out on the family in November 2019 is incorrect. We have to allow Councils the chance to consider complaints before we do. It would be reasonable to ask Mrs V to submit this complaint to the Council. This complaint was not included in her original complaint to us.
14. I understand that Mrs V’s circumstances have changed and she is asking the Council for a reassessment, which is appropriate.

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Final decision

15. There is no evidence of Council fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman