Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Special Guardianship Order allowance payments because we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant wants.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council deducted child benefit from his Special Guardianship Order (SGO) allowance payments (until 1 January 2025) despite the fact he receives universal credit. He wants the Council to refund the deductions it made in 2024. He also complains about delays in the complaints process.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In 2005, the Government issued non-statutory guidance (a means-test model) which recommended councils ignore child benefit when calculating special guardianship order allowance for people in receipt of income support.
6. In the twenty years since then, universal credit has replaced income support, and special guardianship regulations and guidance have been updated. But most people assumed the means-test model, and the recommendation to ignore child benefit when calculating special guardianship allowance, remained. We have issued a number of decisions based on the 2005 guidance.
7. It was not until 2025 that we checked with the Government to ask whether the model still reflected the Government’s (non-statutory) wishes. The Government told us the model is out of date. It has not been updated since 2005 and is no longer supported or promoted by the government. However, it remains available for councils to use voluntarily if they wish.
8. Following this advice, or approach to complaints about deductions from special guardianship order allowance has changed. We are unlikely to be critical of a council that decides not to follow the 2005 model.
9. In Rotherham, the Council reviewed its payments in 2025. Previously, the Council had deducted child benefit from special guardianship order allowance. In 2025, it decided it would no longer do so. The Council has refunded any deductions it made from 1 January 2025.
10. Mr X wants the Council to refund deductions it made in 2024. He says this was the approach we took in a decision we made in January 2024, the last decision we made before consulting the Government.
11. The Council deducted child benefit from Mr X’s special guardianship order allowance in 2024 when we might (but only might) have recommended it did not. There is no guarantee this would have been our view at the time. It would depend on whether we had asked the Government for advice, and what the advice was. It is impossible to say now. All I can say is that we are unlikely to be critical of a council now that decides not to follow the 2005 model in light of the advice we received.
12. Taking all of these factors into account, we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants. We cannot recommend the Council refunds the 2024 deductions because this does not reflect our current view.
13. Mr X also complains about delays in the complaints process. We do not normally investigate a complaint about the complaints process if we were not investigating the matters originally complained about. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable for us.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome he wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman