Summary: We upheld Miss X’s complaint because the Council failed to consider her complaint through the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council agreed to proceed with the complaint, apologise to Miss X, and pay her a financial remedy for the frustration caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council wrongly deducted child benefit from her Special Guardianship Allowance since 2021. Miss X came to the Ombudsman when the Council refused to consider her complaint.
2. Miss X says the matter impacted on her financially.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended).
4. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because:
• The Council refused to consider Miss X’s complaint as it related to issues regarding a Council policy.
• However, the complaint is about financial support for a Special Guardian. The statutory guidance, “Getting the Best from Complaints” under section 2.4 states complaints of this nature should be considered through the Children’s Statutory Complaints process.
8. The Council failed to consider Miss X’s complaint through the statutory complaints process. Therefore, we asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused to Miss X.

Agreed action

9. Within four weeks of the final decision the Council agreed to:
• write to Miss X and apologise for the frustration caused by failing to consider the complaint through the children’s statutory complaints process;
• pay Miss X a symbolic payment of £200 to acknowledge the frustration caused by the delay in considering the complaint through the correct process; and
• complete stage one of the children’s statutory complaints process.

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Final decision

10. We upheld Miss X’s complaint. The Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman