Summary: Mrs X complains that the Council failed to provide financial support prior to and following her application for a Special Guardianship Order (SGO). She also complains the Council failed to communicate with her or assess her adequately. The Council is at fault, which has caused injustice. It has agreed an apology, a financial assessment and a financial remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mrs X, says the Council failed to offer support or assess her when she took over the care of her grandchildren. Mrs X complains the Council advised her she would be eligible for financial support if she obtained an SGO, and then failed to provide this once the SGO application had been granted. She also says the Council’s communications were poor.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated Mrs X’s complaints about the Council’s actions prior to and after her SGO application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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)
5. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
6. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I spoke to Mrs X and considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council. I shared this draft statement with Mrs X and the Council and considered their comments before I finalised my decision.

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What I found

Legislation

8. A Special Guardianship Order (SGO) is a legal order where the court gives a carer – often a relative – parental responsibility for a child who cannot live whether their parents.
9. Special Guardianship Regulations state that if a child is not looked after by a Local Authority, then there is no automatic entitlement to an assessment for Special Guardianship Support Services.
10. The Council’s children’s social care procedure (para 2.2) states that it will assess the need for support services for children who are the subject of Special Guardianship Orders and who are no looked after if the Council “considers it necessary in the interests of the child and in order to ensure that the special guardianship arrangements are effective.”
11. Where it has carried out an assessment of need for support services “an assessment of the need for financial support will be made in all cases except where the special guardian is in receipt of income support in which case the maximum allowance will be payable”.

What happened

12. In 2017 Mrs X’s grandchildren were living with her as her daughter was unable to care for them.
13. In February 2019 Mrs X contacted the Council to say she wanted to apply for an SGO. The children’s mother, who was also living with Mrs X at this point but would go missing for long periods, was spending the children’s benefits on herself.
14. The Council’s documentation states that soon after this Mrs X told a social worker she “had expected some level of support” from Children’s Services. The records state the social worker advised Mrs X this would only be the case if the Council had placed the children in her care. The social worker suggested a referral to the Council’s Early Help service, a support service for families, but advised financial support would not be provided. Mrs X said she wanted financial support as she was not receiving benefits for the children.
15. Mrs X applied for the SGO in March. The Council carried out an assessment without visiting Mrs X, although social workers did speak to the children.
16. After the SGO application was granted the social worker referred Mrs X to the Council’s Special Guardianship support team.
17. The Council then carried out a support assessment. The assessment report noted Mrs X believed financial support was “an outstanding issue” and that she wished to be assessed for this support.
18. The Council’s policy states that where a support assessment has been carried out for a child who is the subject of an SGO, it will conduct an assessment of need for financial support.
19. However, the Council did not then carry out an assessment of need for financial support. The support assessment concluded that as Mrs X had made a private application for an SGO following a private family arrangement, she would not be entitled to an SGO allowance.
20. Mrs X complained to the Council in January 2020. She said the Council had not provided her with an SGO plan or financial support. In its first response the Council did not provide a copy of the plan, but said Mrs X was aware it did not include financial support. Following a further complaint, the Council said it had no obligation to provide financial support but that an assessment of needs had been made “and this has identified that there are no additional needs that would lead to financial support being made”. The Council recommended Mrs X be referred to the Benefits Maximisation Service.
21. Mrs X then came to us. As well as complaining about a lack of financial support and a failure to financially assess her, she said the Council had failed to offer her assistance or assess her as a carer when she took over full time care of her grandchildren in 2017.
22. In response to my other enquiries the Council said: “There is no evidence Mrs X was advised that she would receive financial support and this would be contrary to Council policy given that the child had not been looked after.” It said as the children had been living with Mrs X under a private family arrangement, it had no obligation to provide financial support. The Council said it was unable to provide a copy of Mrs X’s SGO support plan and that the social worker who provided this to court had since left the Council. 

Analysis

23. The complaint about the Council’s actions of 2017 was made late, and there is no good reason to investigate now.
24. Turning to the events of 2019-20, the Council’s policy states that where a needs assessment has been carried out because it is considered necessary in the interests of a child who is subject to a SGO, the Council will also carry out a financial assessment in all cases except where the special guardian is in receipt of maximum income support. Mrs X has told me no financial assessment was carried out.
25. By failing to carry out a financial assessment the Council was in breach of its policy. It has repeatedly provided incorrect advice to Mrs that she is ineligible for financial support because she was looking after her grandchildren under a private arrangement before she made the SGO application. This is fault by the Council which has caused injustice to Mrs X.
26. The Council has also advised me that Mrs X was aware of the Council’s decision not to provide her with financial support as this was detailed in a support plan. It is unable to provide a copy of the support plan. This is fault by the Council.
27. The Council has agreed to carry out a financial assessment of the family’s needs and to consider backdating any award to the date of the SGO order. It also agreed to make an apology to Mrs X and pay her £300 for her time and trouble in bringing the complaint.

Agreed action

28. Within one month of my decision the Council has agreed to:
1. Apologise to Mrs X;
2. Conduct a financial assessment of the family’s needs;
3. Pay Mrs X £300 for her time and trouble in bringing the complaint.

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Final decision

29. I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault by the Council causing injustice to Mrs X. The Council has agreed to make a fresh assessment and to provide an apology and a financial remedy.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

30. I did not investigate what happened in court as this is outside of our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman