Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the support provided to a care leaver with her rent while she was doing a degree. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains about the support the Council gave her, as a carer leaver, while she was doing her degree. She thinks the Council should provide support while she does part two of the course and pay her compensation.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s response. I read notes from Ms X’s pathway plan, the Care Act Regulations and information from the professional body for the subject she was studying. I also considered government guidance to councils about support for care leavers and comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Council support

4. The council will help care leavers with their rent for the duration of a first degree. It also provides a £2000 bursary.
5. Government guidance says councils can, following a needs assessment, provide support to care leavers while they are doing post-graduate study. The guidance does not say councils must provide this support or that it must pay the rent.
6. The professional body for the subject Ms X studied says people must complete a three year first degree which is known as part one. They must then complete a two year second degree known as part two.

What happened

7. Ms X started a three year degree in September 2014. She did not incur any housing costs until she signed a tenancy in September 2016. The Council agreed to pay the rent until the end of the course but said it was dependent on Ms X providing evidence of satisfactory grades and attendance. The Council explained that if Ms X had to re-sit any part of the course the Council would pay the rent for an extra three months. Ms X told the Council that if she were to fail a module she would have to do a re-sit which would be on a part-time basis over a year.
8. The Council paid the rent until March 2017. It repeatedly asked Ms X to provide evidence of satisfactory attendance. Ms X did not do this but, in March, said she had failed a module and was doing a re-sit year.
9. The Council stopped paying the rent. It resumed payment from September 2017 when Ms X started her final year. It continued paying the rent until Ms X’s final exam in July 2018. The Council also gave Ms X a bursary and provided advice and support.
10. Ms X complained because she thought the Council should have provided more help with her rent. In response the Council explained that the maximum period of help was for three and a quarter years and it had provided help for an extra three months. It also said it had explained, in advance, that Ms X needed to provide evidence that the course was going well and that support would be limited to three months if she had to do a re-sit. In late 2018 the Council invited Ms X to a needs assessment to see if the Council would provide any further support until she became 25 years old. The Council says Ms X did not attend this assessment.
11. Ms X says the Council should have helped her with the rent during part two of the course. She wants compensation for the stress she incurred. She says she is facing eviction and that the Council did not resume paying the rent until 2018. She also says the rent paid by the Council, from September 2017 to July 218, does not equal the rent she was charged.

Assessment

12. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The policy says the Council will provide support for a first degree for a maximum of three years and three months. There was a break in Ms X receiving help with her rent in 2017 because she had already received more than the maximum available help for a re-sit period. And, she cannot receive help with the rent during part two of her course because this is not paid for by the Council. Ms X argues that part one and part two are all part of the same course. But, this is not the view presented by the professional body. The financial help provided by the Council is consistent with the policy so there is no reason to start an investigation. Government guidance says councils can provide support during postgraduate study. It is possible that if Ms X had attended the needs assessment in late 2018 then the Council might have decided to provide some additional support although it is impossible to say what support, if any, it might have offered.
13. Ms X says the rent that the Council paid from September 2017 was not actually paid into her rent account until March 2018. This is confirmed by the rent statement. However, this delay has not had any impact because Ms X is still in the property and has rent arrears regardless of when that payment was made. Ms X also says that the amount paid by the Council from September 2017 to July 2018 did not match the rent she was charged. But, while I do not have the exact dates, there is nothing to suggest the amount paid by the Council did not cover the period it said it would pay.
14. The pathway plan notes show the Council provided a bursary, financial support when Ms X moved into her home, and advice and support with a range of financial and personal issues. It also provided a named person for Ms X to contact for help with dealing with the rent arrears and exploring if she was eligible to claim benefits. I appreciate Ms X had a stressful time but there is no suggestion of fault and no reason to ask the Council for compensation.

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Final decision

15. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman