Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council has backtracked on financially supporting a Special Guardianship Order for her granddaughter for several years. This is a late complaint. Mrs X could have raised her concerns with the Ombudsman sooner and it is unlikely we would now be able to carry out an effective investigation. We do not consider it appropriate to exercise discretion to investigate Mrs X’s complaint outside of normal timeframes.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council closed her granddaughter’s social care case after going back on its commitment to support her financially in obtaining a Special Guardianship Order for her granddaughter. She says it has also failed to pay fostering allowance it previously agreed to.
2. She says this has caused her distress, uncertainty and has denied her financial support in caring for her granddaughter for several years.

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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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I discussed the complaint with Mrs X and considered her views.
6. I considered the previous complaint correspondence the Council provided.
7. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background – previous complaints to the Council

First complaint

8. In July 2021, Mrs X complained to the Council as it said it would fund the Special Guardianship Order (“SGO”) process for her granddaughter in 2019 and it had delayed in progressing or communicating about it. She said a social worker had carried out a fostering assessment in 2018 and told her she would receive payments until an SGO was completed. She had not received any payments.
9. The Council responded:
• It noted a previous social worker may have given incorrect advice. It clarified its normal process was to advise families in Mrs X’s situation to apply to the courts directly to secure an SGO and it may offer financial help to support the initial process.
• It said her granddaughter was not a Looked After Child as her son had placed her in Mrs X’s care under a private agreement. As a result, she would not be entitled to fostering allowance as the assessment was closed and never approved.
10. To resolve her complaint, it proposed to pay for Mrs X’s application to the court for an SGO and to pay for her to be represented by a solicitor at the initial hearing. Mrs X did not escalate the complaint.

Second complaint

11. In April 2022, Mrs X complained to the Council again. She said it still had not moved forward with the SGO.
12. The Council responded and said Mrs X had not provided the details of her solicitor to the social worker to help progress the SGO. It said it would still pay for the initial hearing and initial application. Mrs X did not escalate the complaint.

Mrs X’s complaint to us

13. In July 2023, the Council ended social care involvement with Mrs X’s granddaughter as there were no concerns for her care. Mrs X complained. She said the Council had not done anything for an SGO and it was still not in place after several years. With no social worker, she worried about not having parental rights over her granddaughter.
14. The Council responded and said it had visited the issues in earlier complaints. As previously advised, it said the Council would not apply for an SGO under public law proceedings as her granddaughter was in her care under a private family arrangement. Mrs X needed to apply for an SGO herself and it had offered to pay for the application and for the legal advice around this. The Council said it remained open for her to pursue an SGO and its offer still stood to provide the financial support it previously agreed.

Analysis

As set out in Paragraph 4, 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.

15. Mrs X’s most recent complaint was triggered by the Council’s decision to end social care involvement with her granddaughter in 2023. However, I understand the key and main issue for Mrs X is the outstanding SGO.
16. While it may be ongoing, Mrs X first complained to the Council about these issues in 2021, three years ago. There were longs gaps of time between her second and third complaint about the same concerns. These complaints relate to events from, and decisions made in, 2018 and 2019. This is over five to six years ago. This included whether Mrs X’s care of her granddaughter was a private family arrangement and whether fostering assessments were carried out. The Council’s position on these issues remained the same since.
17. Therefore, I consider this is a late complaint. It was reasonable for Mrs X to escalate her concerns with the Council at the time or complain to us sooner if she was unhappy with how it dealt with the matters in her earlier complaints. We do not consider there are grounds to exercise discretion to investigate this complaint now.
18. Another consideration is that it is unlikely we can come to sound conclusions on decisions made or what happened in 2018 and 2019 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

19. We will not investigate this complaint. Mrs X could have raised her concerns with the Ombudsman sooner and it is unlikely we would now be able to carry out an effective investigation. I have discontinued my investigation on this basis.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman