Summary: Mr X complains the Council has refused to provide him with financial support it agreed to in 2016. We will not exercise discretion to investigate Mr X's complaint outside the normal timeframes. Due to the passage of time, it is unlikely we would now be able to carry out an effective investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has refused to provide him with financial support it agreed to in 2016, when he began caring for his grandchild.
2. Mr X says this has caused him financial hardship and distress. Mr X wants the Council to provide financial support to enable him to continue to care for his grandchild.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
4. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by Mr X and discussed the complaint with him.
6. Mr X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered all comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

7. In March 2017, an MP complained to the Council on Mr X’s behalf about the lack of financial support provided to Mr X to care for his grandchild, Y. The Council responded to the complaint in April. It said Y was not a child looked after by the Council and therefore boarding out allowances (now known as friends and family foster care allowance) would not be applied.
8. In April 2023, the MP complained again on Mr X’s behalf. The Council’s response acknowledged that records of a core group meeting in November 2016, stated that a social worker said Y’s grandparents would receive boarding out allowance dating back to the time that Y started to live with them in March 2016. The Council said this was a misunderstanding of what had been agreed at the time.
9. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman in August 2023. Mr X said the Council agreed to pay boarding out allowance eight years ago but now refused to pay.

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Analysis

10. As set out above, we expect complainants to contact us within 12 months of them becoming aware of the problem. We can make an exception to that requirement if we think there are good grounds why the complaint was not made sooner, and we consider that we could still carry out an effective investigation. But the restriction is there because the longer ago events happened the harder it is to investigate.
11. The Council first responded to this complaint in 2017. Therefore, this is a late complaint. It was reasonable for Mr X to complain to us sooner if he was unhappy with how the Council dealt with the matter. We will therefore not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint now.
12. Even if we decided Mr X could not reasonably have complained in 2017, we could not now come to sound conclusions due to the significant time that has passed. The further away in time an investigation takes place from the events to be investigated, the more difficult it may be to establish the material facts with reasonable confidence.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint. It is unlikely we would now be able to carry out an effective investigation. Therefore, it is not appropriate to exercise discretion to investigate Mr X's complaint outside the normal timeframes. I have discontinued my investigation on this basis.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman