Summary: Mrs X complained the Council stopped paying her the Special Guardianship Order (SGO) allowance. She said this caused her distress and impacted her financially. There was fault in the way the Council delayed completing its stage one response. This frustrated Mrs X. The Council will apologise and repeat its offer of completing the statutory process.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council stopped paying her the Special Guardianship Order (SGO) allowance. She said this caused her distress and impacted her financially.

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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’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), 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)
4. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I read Mrs X’s complaint and spoke to her about it on the phone.
6. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
7. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft decision. All comments were considered before making this final decision.

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What I found

Background information

8. Special Guardianship is an order made by the Family Court that places a child or young person to live with someone other than their parent(s) on a long-term basis. The person with whom a child is placed will become the child’s Special Guardian.
9. Government guidance on the Special Guardianship Regulations sets out the circumstances in which councils should provide financial support to a Special Guardian. These include situations where there is a financial obstacle to a guardianship arrangement being made, and where the child requires special care. There is no overall obligation on councils to provide support in every case in which a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) is made.
10. If support is provided the council must review the arrangements at least once a year.
11. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
12. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond.
13. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two. At this stage of the procedure, councils appoint an investigating officer (IO) to look into the complaint and an independent person (IP) who is responsible for overseeing the investigation and ensuring its independence.
14. Following the investigation, a senior manager (the adjudicating officer) at the council should carry out an adjudication. The officer considers the IO report and any report from the IP. They decide what the council’s response to the complaint will be, including what action it will take. The adjudicating officer should then write to the complainant with a copy of the investigation report, any report from the independent person and the adjudication response.
15. The whole stage two process should be completed within 25 working days but guidance allows an extension for up to 65 working days where required.
16. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage two investigation, they can ask for a stage three review by an independent panel. The council must hold the panel within 30 working days of the date of request, and then issue a final response within 20 working days of the panel hearing.
17. The statutory children’s complaints procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns. Because of this, if a council has investigated something under the statutory children’s complaint process, the Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate it.
18. However, we may look at whether there were any flaws in the stage two investigation or stage three review panel that could call the findings into question. We may also consider whether a council properly considered the findings and recommendations of the independent investigation and review panel, and whether it has completed any recommendations without delay.
19. In February 2022 the Ombudsman issued practitioner guidance on the Children’s statutory complaints process.
20. The Council’s complainant behaviour policy sets out what it considers unreasonable behaviour. This includes:
• Refusing to specify the grounds of a complaint, despite offers of help.
• Refusing to cooperate with the complaint investigation process.
21. The policy set out how it would handle unreasonable behaviour. This includes issuing a warning or refusing to continue with any ongoing complaint investigations.
22. The Council had an agreement with another Council, Council B, to complete any statutory children’s services complaints from stage two. This agreement ended in February 2024.

What happened

23. This is a summary of events, outlining key facts and does not cover everything that has occurred in this case.
24. Mrs X’s family member, Y, lives with her under an SGO. The Council provided funding under this agreement.
25. In 2019 the Council reviewed and decided to remove the funding. Mrs X complained at the time. The Council did not remove the funding.
26. The Council reviewed the payments again in July 2023. It told Mrs X the funding would end in September 2023.
27. Mrs X appealed against the Council’s decision in October 2023. The Council said unless Mrs X’s financial circumstances changed since August 2023, a reassessment would not lead to a different outcome.
28. Mrs X complained to the Council the following day. She said she felt let down by the Council and she had used her finances to pay for respite for Y, who had additional needs.
29. Mrs X chased the Council for a response in November 2023. The Council acknowledged the complaint and apologised for its oversight.
30. The Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint at the end of November 2023. The response said the Council completed the review fairly. It said Mrs X could have told the Council anything it should consider.
31. Mrs X said the Council did not understand the matter and asked it to escalate the complaint to stage two in December 2023. The request went to Council B. Council B assigned an IO and IP. The IO arranged to meet Mrs X and the IP on different occasions. The IP cancelled one meeting due to illness, Mrs X cancelled a meeting and did not attend another.
32. Council B contacted Mrs X in January 2024 and cited the unreasonable behaviours in the complainant behaviour policy. Council B informed Mrs X it was ending the investigation.
33. Mrs X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate. Mrs X would like the Council to reinstate the funding.
34. In response to my enquiries the Council initially stated it did not receive a request from Mrs X to escalate her complaint to stage two. Following discussion with Council B, the Council said the IP did cancel a meeting due to illness, but Mrs X cancelled a meeting with very little notice and then did not turn up to the other. The Council said it imposed its complainant behaviour policy after this and ended its investigation.
35. The Council offered to continue Mrs X’s complaint at stage two.

My findings

36. The children’s statutory complaints procedure is a statutory procedure the Council has to follow. As set out in paragraph 16, where a council has investigated a complaint under the statutory children’s complaint process, we would not normally re-investigate it unless we consider the investigation was flawed.
37. Council B decided to use the complainant behaviour policy. It has done this because Mrs X did not attend meetings with the IO and the IP. It is reasonable for the Council to use this policy. Mrs X stated the Council did not understand her complaint when she asked for the stage two escalation. Without a meeting, the Council did not understand the complaint or the issues with the stage one response. The Council was not at fault.
38. However, it would be good practice for the Council to issue a warning before taking this action. The Council has offered to continue with the stage two request, and this is a suitable offer, considering it did not give Mrs X any warning before ending the investigation.

Complaint handling

39. There were delays in the complaint process. Mrs X complained in October 2023. The Council did not respond to this complaint until the end of November 2023. The statutory process allows 20 working days to respond to a stage one complaint. The response took 32 days. This is fault and frustrated Mrs X.
40. The Council’s response suggested some confusion in this matter. Council B did not communicate with the Council about Mrs X’s request for the complaint escalation to stage two. I would usually recommend a service improvement recommendation. However, the Council has ended its agreement with Council B, so this is not necessary.

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Agreed action

41. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Mrs X by the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within 4 weeks of this final decision:
• Apologise to Mrs X for the delays in this matter. This apology should be in accordance with the Ombudsman’s new guidance Making an effective apology.
• Offer Mrs X the opportunity to continue with a stage two complaint, as offered in response to my enquiries.
42. The Council should provide evidence of the actions taken to satisfy the recommendations.

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Final decision

43. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault by the Council, which caused injustice to Mrs X.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman