Summary: Mrs M complains the Council has not paid Special Guardianship Order allowance at the correct rate. There is no fault in the Council’s calculations.

The complaint

1. Mrs M complains the Council has not paid Special Guardianship Order allowance at the correct rate.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. 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

3. I have considered:
• information provided by Mrs M; and
• information provided by the Council.
4. I invited Mrs M and the Council to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

5. Mrs M cares for her niece, G. She obtained a Special Guardianship Order in March 2018.
6. A Special Guardianship Order is a court order that gives a carer parental responsibility for a child. Councils can provide financial support if they consider it is necessary to ensure a Special Guardian can look after a child.
7. The Council and the Ombudsman have previously considered complaints about events connected with Mrs M’s application for the Order. This complaint concerns the amount of financial support, known as Special Guardianship Order allowance, the Council pays.
8. Mrs M believes she has been underpaid. She complained to the Council.
9. The Council explained how it calculated the payments. Special Guardianship Order allowance is means-tested. Mrs M is entitled to the maximum allowance.
10. Payments are based on the Council’s fostering allowance rates from which the Council must deduct any child benefit and child tax credit the Special Guardian receives.
11. Mrs M believes the Council’s figures are wrong. She said the Council paid a higher rate when it calculated her ‘compensation’ after her previous complaint.
12. Following Mrs M’s previous complaint, the Council made a payment to acknowledge that delay meant Mrs M could potentially have got a Special Guardianship Order, and started to receive the allowance, three months sooner.
13. The Council explained that it calculated the payment using fostering allowance but without deducting child benefit or child tax credit. It did this as a gesture of goodwill. The payment was higher than the Special Guardianship Order allowance Mrs M would have received for the same period.
14. Mrs M thinks the Council should continue to make payments at the higher rate. It cannot. Regulations and government guidance say Special Guardianship Order allowance cannot duplicate other benefits, so the Council must subtract child benefit and child tax credit from the fostering allowance rates when paying Special Guardianship Order allowance.
15. The Council wrote to Mrs M to explain how it had calculated her payments. Her payments decreased slightly in 2020 when G became the oldest dependent child in Mrs M’s household and her child benefit increased.
16. I have checked the figures and compared them with the published fostering allowance rates on the Council’s website, and I am satisfied with the Council’s explanation and calculations. There is no fault by the Council.

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Final decision

17. I have completed my investigation. There is no fault by the Council in Mrs M’s Special Guardianship Order Allowance payments.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman