Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about special guardianship order payments. These payments stopped in 2023 and there are no good reasons we should disapply the late complaint rule.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council has failed to pay him the special guardianship allowance (SGO) he is entitled to.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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

3. I considered information provided by Mr X which included the Council’s reply to him.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Background duty

5. SGO is an order made by the Family Court that places a child or young person to live with someone other than their parent(s) long term. The person with whom a child is placed will become the child’s Special Guardian.
6. Government guidance on the SGO Regulations sets out the circumstances in which councils should provide financial support to a Special Guardian. There is no overall duty on councils to provide support in every SGO case.
7. If support is provided the council must review the arrangements at least once a year.

Events

8. Mr X says he started caring for Y and Z in 2011. He says he received a SGO allowance from the Council which stopped in 2020. He complained. In October 2022 the Council agreed to reinstate the allowance for Z ( by this point Y had turned 18). It said it would review the payment in 12 months. It said it would consider back dating the allowance provided Mr X provided information at a meeting.
9. Mr X says the Council stopped all contact in October 2024. Z had turned 18 the previous year. He says he complained periodically. The Council replied in October 2025. It said Mr X had not provided the information requested in 2022 and so it would not continue with his complaint.

Analysis

10. We will not investigate events known to a complainant for more than 12 months unless there are good reasons to do so. Both Y and Z had turned 18 more than two years before he complained to us. The Council will not usually pay SGO allowances for adults. There is no evidence Mr X actively pursued his complaint once the SGO allowance stopped.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there are no good reasons the late complaint rule should not apply.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman