The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: The Council was at fault for not dealing with Ms B’s complaint about her special guardianship allowance under the statutory children’s complaint procedure. This meant that Ms B did not have access to an independent investigation of her complaint. The Council has now agreed to consider the complaint under the correct procedure.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms B, complains that the Council ‘froze’ her special guardianship allowance on the date of the Order. She says she did not agree to this. Although the Council has now increased her allowance, it has refused to provide her with backpay.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended) If we are satisfied with an organisation’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) 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.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information from Ms B and the Council. Both had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.
What I found
The Children Act 1989, and associated Regulations, give special guardians (such as Ms B) the right to make complaints about how councils have discharged certain social work functions. They are entitled to use a specific complaints procedure (which I refer to as ‘the statutory procedure’) which gives them access to an independent investigation. They can also ask a panel to review the investigation if they are dissatisfied.
Ms B’s complaint appears to be about a social work function which is subject to the statutory procedure. However, the Council processed her complaint through its own, corporate procedure.
This was fault by the Council. The result was that Ms B did not get access to an independent investigation into her concerns.
Although Ms B has asked to the Ombudsman to consider the substantive issues she lists in her complaint, government guidance says we cannot accept complaints subject to the statutory procedure until – at the very least – a robust independent investigation has taken place.
Agreed action
The Council has agreed to investigate Ms B’s complaint under stage 2 of the statutory complaints procedure. It has agreed to start its investigation within four weeks of this decision.
Final decision
The Council was at fault for how it dealt with Ms B’s complaint. The agreed action remedies her injustice.
Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman