Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to provide a financial allowance to the complainant for the care of a child. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons for us to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the Council has failed to provide financial support for the care of her nephew for the period 2013 to 2019.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs X says her nephew member came to live with her in 2009, and that she and her husband obtained a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) in 2012. She complains that the Council provided no financial support between 2013 and 2019. She says she was responsible for keeping the child out of the care system during that period and that the Council should have paid her an allowance. She has asked to be reimbursed for the period and complains that the Council has declined to do so.
7. Mrs X further complains that she was inaccurately referred to in the Council’s records as a foster carer. She says this demonstrates that the Council was using her to provide foster care and that she should therefore be entitled to financial support.
8. In response to Mrs X’s complaint, the Council has confirmed that her status was not that of a foster carer and has apologised for referring to her as such. It has said there is no evidence that the financial assessment it carried out when the SGO was granted was flawed, and that Mrs X did not request reassessment when her circumstances changed in 2018. That being the case, there are no grounds for it to pay SGO allowance for the period 2013 to 2019.
9. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the failure to pay her SGO allowance between 2013 and 2019. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to consider it now. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done.
10. Mrs X was aware that the Council was not paying her an allowance between 2013 and 2019, and did not complain about the arrangement at the time. Neither did she complain when she says the Judge told her she had been treated wrongly, which she says was during care proceedings four years ago. The Ombudsman will not therefore consider the events of this period.
11. The Council has accepted that it made an error in recording Mrs X as a foster carer. However, the existence of the SGO shows that she was a special guardian and not a foster carer, so the recording error had no demonstrable impact. The Council has already apologised, and there are insufficient grounds for the Ombudsman to intervene.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons for us to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman