Summary: The Council was at fault for refusing to consider Mrs B’s complaint properly under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. It will now do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs B, complains that the Council has not increased her special guardianship allowance since 2021. She also complains that she is now subject to means-testing, which was not part of the agreement when she became a special guardian in 2017.

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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 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 from Mrs B and the Council. I also considered relevant government guidance.
6. Mrs 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

7. The statutory guidance, ‘Getting the best from complaints’, sets out a three-stage procedure for complaints about certain aspects of children’s social care. I refer to this as ‘the statutory procedure’.
8. Special guardians can use this procedure to complain about the financial support they have received.
9. The benefit of the statutory procedure is that the special guardian gets an independent investigation of their complaint (at stage 2), and, if they wish, an independent review (at stage 3).
10. If a complainant wants to progress their complaint through all three stages of the statutory procedure, then they have the right to do so – regardless of the council’s views on the merits of the complaint.
11. The Ombudsman normally expects councils (and complainants) to follow the full statutory procedure before involving us. A complaint can only be referred to the Ombudsman earlier if, following a robust stage two investigation, all significant parts of the complaint have been upheld.
12. In Mrs B’s case, the Council refused to commission a stage 2 investigation of her complaint. It said she had not provided the right information for a reassessment of her finances, so an investigation would be unable to establish whether she had been reassessed properly.
13. I do not agree. Mrs B’s complaint – as summarised at the beginning of this decision statement – is about a relevant matter, she has a statutory right to make a complaint, and she had a right to a stage 2 investigation if she wanted one, whatever the Council’s views on the merits of such an investigation.
14. Furthermore, the Ombudsman previously found fault with the Council (in case 20 004 109) for failing to apply age-related increases to Mrs B’s allowance, which resulted in her being underpaid £15k. It is unclear whether something similar has happened here.
15. This matter needs properly investigating, and, as the criteria for an early referral to the Ombudsman are not met, the complaint should now be considered under stage 2 of the statutory procedure.
16. If Mrs B is still unhappy after all three stages of the statutory procedure have been completed, she can come back to us and ask us to consider her complaint.

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Agreed action

17. The Council has agreed to allocate an investigator to consider Mrs B’s complaint under stage 2 of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
18. The Council has provided us with evidence it has done this.

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Final decision

19. The Council was at fault for failing to handle Mrs B’s complaint properly. This caused her an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman