London Borough of Bexley (20 011 941)

Category : Children's care services > Looked after children

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 01 Jul 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: investigation of this complaint has been discontinued because the Council is currently considering the subject of Mr B’s complaint at stage 2 of the children’s statutory complaints procedure and he can ask for consideration at stage 3 of that procedure if he is dissatisfied with the outcome of stage 2. This process may resolve Mr B’s complaint without the need for the involvement of the Ombudsman’s office.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr B, complains the Council wrongly removed his Special Guardianship Order Allowance in December 2020 despite agreeing to pay this when he obtained the Order in 2016 subject to annual means testing.
  2. The injustice Mr B claims is that the removal of the Allowance will mean he will be unable to continue to provide all the support and care he has been to his niece who is the subject of the Order as he will have less money. Mr B has confirmed that the Council is still currently paying the Allowance whilst it is considering his complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
  2. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
  3. If we are satisfied with a council’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)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered the written information Mr B provided with his complaint and also information the Council provided about its handling of Mr B’s complaint to the Council. I spoke to Mr B by telephone.
  2. Mr B 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

What should have happened

  1. The law sets out a three stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. At stage 2 of this procedure, the Council appoints an Independent Investigator and an Independent Person (who is responsible for overseeing the investigation). If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage 2 investigation, they can ask for a stage 3 review.

What happened

  1. In December 2020 Mr B complained to the Council that it had wrongly removed a Special Guardianship Order Allowance that it had been paying him for five years since he was awarded Special Guardianship for his niece. He said that this was subject to an annual means test and paid to him monthly but that in December the Council wrote to him stating that the Allowance would no longer be paid after January 2021 because his niece did not have additional needs so did not met the criteria for an Allowance. Mr B says the council responded to this complaint at stage 1 of its complaints procedure in early January 2021.
  2. Around mid-January Mr B wrote to the Council again to say he remained unhappy and that the stage 1 response seemed to confirm that he did qualify for the Allowance but at a slightly reduced amount. It seems a new policy was being introduced and the Council agreed to continue to make the payment until March 2021 while all Special Guardians were given a copy of this new policy.
  3. In early February 2021 a senior officer in the children’s social care team wrote to Mr B effectively upholding the decision at stage 1 and advising Mr B could complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if he remained unhappy.
  4. Mr B duly complained to us shortly after.
  5. In March the Council told us that it had forwarded the complaint for consideration at stage 2 of the children’s statutory complaints procedure after it realised the complaint should have been considered under that procedure. It confirms that the adjudication of the stage 2 investigation will be sent to Mr B in early July. After this Mr B will have the right to ask for a review at stage 3 of the statutory procedure.
  6. I understand from Mr B that the Council has agreed to continue paying the Allowance whilst the matter is being considered under complaint procedure.

Analysis

  1. As the Council recognised fairly promptly that it should have considered Mr B’s complaint under the statutory procedure and this process is now in progress I do not propose to investigate this complaint now. This is because the statutory procedure is specifically set up to consider complaints such as Mr B’s and it may result in the matter being resolved without this office needing to consider the matter. In addition the Council is continuing to pay the Allowance whilst it is considering the complaint so Mr B will not be materially disadvantaged by waiting for the matter to be fully completed under the complaint procedure.
  2. If Mr B is not satisfied at the conclusion of stage 3 of the process he could complain to this office again then and we would consider if we could pursue the matter then.

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Final decision

  1. I have discontinued investigation of this complaint for the reasons detailed in paragraph 15 above.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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