Summary: Miss D complained that the Council delayed progressing grant-funded adaptations to her home. As a result, her family has been overcrowded for over four years. The Council has accepted there was delay. It has agreed to make a payment to Miss D to remedy the distress caused.

The complaint

1. Miss D complained that the Council delayed progressing grant-funded adaptations to her home. As a result, her family has been overcrowded for over four years.

Back to top

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. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
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. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

6. Although Miss D did not come to the Ombudsman until September 2024, I have investigated matters from May 2020. This is because Miss D believed the Council was progressing matters so did not make a formal complaint until 2024.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

7. I spoke to Miss D about her complaint and considered the Council’s response to my enquiries.
8. Miss D and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Relevant law and guidance

9. Under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, councils with social services functions have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need in their area. Under the Act, councils can provide financial assistance to a child or family. Such financial assistance may be unconditional or subject to repayment in full or part. Before providing financial assistance, councils should consider the child or parents’ financial circumstances. The courts have said the functions of a council under Section 17 of the Act can extend to providing major adaptations to a child’s home.

Home improvement grants

10. Under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, councils can award Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG) to people whose disability means their home needs adaptation.
11. A council must decide if the proposed works are necessary and appropriate to meet the needs of the disabled person. It must also be satisfied it is reasonable and practicable to carry out the works given the condition of the property to be adapted. In cases where major adaptations are required and it is difficult to provide a cost-effective solution, councils may consider the possibility of supporting a person to move to a more suitable home.
12. The Act says councils should decide a grant application as soon as possible and must do so within six months. The Government’s DFG guidance says good practice is for 95% of urgent and complex works to be completed within 130 working days (six months) of initial contact.
13. The maximum amount of a DFG is £30,000. Councils can decide to give more help if they think it is necessary using discretionary powers set out in the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) Order. Such assistance may be subject to conditions including repayments or making a contribution towards the cost of the work. Where councils choose to exercise these discretionary powers, they should publish a policy which sets out how they will so do.

The Council’s Children’s Capital Funding Grants Scheme

14. The Council may award children’s capital funding grants to pay for home adaptations to help ensure that fostered children may live safely and comfortably within their home. A repayment of up to £10,000 may be payable if the property is sold or transferred within 10 years. The Council issued a policy in July 2021. This says a grant may be awarded where:
• There is clear evidence it is in the best interest of the child to remain in their current placement.
• The adaptation will allow the placement to become long term and may facilitate future foster placements.
• The family home requires expansion to meet reasonable living standards.
• A house move is not an option due to affordability or practicality reasons such as proximity to education or work, proximity to support networks formal or informal.
• Living in that particular property or immediate area is in the interest of the child’s health and wellbeing.
15. The Council’s grant process in short is:
• A service director decides if a grant will be awarded. Children’s services determine the works are appropriate, feasible and necessary and refer to the Council’s Home Improvements Service Team (HIT).
• A HIT technical officer visits the property, completes a technical survey, agrees a suitable scheme with the applicant and produces a schedule of works and drawings if required.
• The officer will arrange for the plans to be submitted for Planning and/or Building Regulation approval.
• Once a planning application has been validated, the local planning authority should make a decision on the proposal within 13 weeks (for major developments), unless a longer period is agreed in writing with the applicant.
• Once planning approval is given, the Council will ask three contractors to bid for the works.
• The Council will decide which bid to accept and issue a formal approval of costs.
• The works will then start.
16. The Council’s policy does not give any timescales for this process to be completed. HIT charges a fee for its service.

What happened

17. I have set out the key events; this is not meant to detail everything that happened.
18. Miss D and her husband (Mr D) became special guardians for their grandchild (J) in 2020. In May 2020, during COVID-19 lockdowns, Mr D emailed a senior manager at the Council saying the social worker had agreed that a home extension would be needed to enable there to be sufficient bedrooms for the whole family. Mr D said the manager had told the social worker that three quotes would need to be submitted to senior managers via a Chief Officers Request. The manager asked HIT and the social worker to visit the property.
19. The court granted a special guardianship order; it was raised in court that the Council should support the family to extend the home.
20. A child and family assessment was completed in April 2021. This highlighted that J required their own bedroom and that Miss & Mr D were sleeping downstairs on a mattress. Officers had visited in 2020 but there had been no progress on an extension due to the pandemic.
21. There was an internal discussion about the children’s capital funding grant process, which required J to be a child in need. Plans and a proposal for a grant were put to the children’s capital funding grant panel in August 2021. The case record says “funding has not yet been approved”.
22. The Council says Miss D rejected the proposed plans in January 2022.
23. In February 2022, there were discussions between the social worker and HIT. HIT said that in 2020 the senior manager had advised that due to HIT’s fees he would liaise directly with building control. A new process for grant approval had then been developed. HIT had only just become aware that the plans drawn up in 2021 had not been agreed by the family.
24. A director approved a children’s capital funding grant in April 2022 and HIT drew up a revised plan for a two-storey extension. This was submitted for building regulation approval in May 2022. Building regulation approval was received in September 2022 and a planning application made to the local planning authority in October 2022.
25. The planning application was refused in March 2023. HIT drew up a revised plan and sent this to the family in August 2023. The plan was not agreed.
26. Miss D complained to the Council on 9 January 2024 that there had been no progress on the extension.
27. The Council upheld the complaint on 21 February. It accepted there had been a delay and offered to make payments of £1,200 to remedy the distress caused by a lack of communication between July 2020 and July 2021 and £700 for the uncertainty caused by communication not being consistent or clear regarding the extension from children’s social care from August 2023 to February 2024.
28. At a meeting in March 2024, the Council said it could apply for planning permission for the plans proposed in August 2023 or Miss D could prepare her own scheme and the Council would contribute to the cost. Miss D says the Council said it would waive the 10-year repayment rule due to the delays.
29. There were then discussions between Miss D and the Council. The Council drew up new plans for a single storey extension which were sent to Miss D in May 2024. Miss D agreed the plans and a planning application was made in June 2024.
30. However the local planning authority did not validate the application as no payment was received form the Council.
31. Miss D escalated her complaint to stage two in August 2024. The Councill’s response of 17 September said it had asked her to send the invoice from the planning authority so the Council could pay it.
32. The Council attempted to pay the planning authority but it could not be accepted as payment was not made through the planning portal. The Council was unaware the application had not progressed until Miss D contacted it in October 2024 to chase the matter. The Council then completed the payment. The planning application was registered in October 2024.
33. Planning permission was granted in March 2025 and the Council issued a formal approval of costs to Miss D.

My findings

34. The Council has accepted there has been delay progressing the extension, which is fault.
35. Although the Council’s policy for children’s capital funding grants does not contain any timescales, my view is that the Government’s DFG guidance provides an appropriate guide to how long matters should take.
36. In Miss D’s case, the works were complex but they were also urgent as the family was overcrowded. So I consider the Council should have issued a formal approval of costs in December 2020, about 130 working days (six months) after they initially asked about an extension in May 2020. Instead this was not issued until March 2025, a delay of over four years (51 months).
37. However, I accept that not all of this delay was due to fault by the Council. The COVID-19 lockdowns had an impact, two sets of plans were drawn up but not agreed and planning permission was refused for a third.
38. I find there was delay and drift by the Council of about three and a half years (31 months), as follows:
• August 2020 to August 2021 (12 months): The Council was aware of the family’s needs and requests but did not draw up plans until August 2021.
• October 2021 to March 2022 (5 months): The family had not agreed with the plans but I can see no good reason why it took until March 2022 to develop new ones.
• April 2023 to August 2023 (4 months): The Council was aware that planning permission had been refused in March 2023 but no new plans were developed until August 2023.
• September 2023 to March 2024 (6 months): Miss D had not agreed to the new plans but I can see no good reason why it took until March 2024, after she had complained, to discuss new ones.
• June 2024 to October 2024 (4 months): Problems making payments to the local planning authority caused the application not to be registered until October 2024.
39. This delay has caused distress to the family as they have had to live in overcrowded accommodation for three and a half years longer than they should have.
40. When we have evidence of fault causing injustice, we will seek a remedy for that injustice which aims to put the complainant back in the position they would have been in if nothing had gone wrong. When this is not possible, we will normally consider asking for a symbolic payment to acknowledge the avoidable distress caused. But our remedies are not intended to be punitive and we do not award compensation in the way that a court might.
41. Our guidance on remedies says that if a family has had to live in unsuitable accommodation due to fault, a payment of £150 per month may be an appropriate remedy. I therefore recommend a payment of £4,650 (31 months x £150) to remedy the distress caused.

Back to top

Action

42. Within a month of my final decision, the Council has agreed to pay Miss D £4,650.
43. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

44. There was fault by the Council. The actions the Council has agreed to take remedy the injustice caused. I have completed my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman