The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the information the Council provided her about benefits she could claim as a foster carer. It is unlikely we could find significant fault which has directly caused the injustice she claims.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council did not properly inform her about which benefits she could claim as a foster carer.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as HMRC. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X which included the Council’s replies to her.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X says that she had a court residence order for her grandchild from 2017. She says that in January 2019 this changed to foster carer status. She says she had claimed child benefit and child tax credit since 2017 and continued to do so. She has now discovered she should have stopped doing so when her status changed to a foster carer in January 2019. She says HMRC are claiming £4500 from her in overpaid back dated benefits. She says the Council had a duty towards her to support her as a foster carer and should have made sure she did not claim benefits she was not entitled to claim.
The Council says the foster carer handbook, which Mrs X has, covers this issue. The Council says the book makes it clear she should not have claimed those benefits. Mrs X says she has the handbook and accepts it does say this. But she says it is only two sentences in a large handbook.
The Council says Mrs X attended a course in early March 2020 which covered income and benefits for foster carers. Mrs X says she did attend a course on that date, but it did not cover this subject.
Analysis We cannot investigate HMRC’s decision to pursue a repayment from Mrs X. The injustice has been caused by the HMRC’s decision to do so.
It is unlikely we could find significant Council’s fault which has directly caused the injustice Mrs X’s claims.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely we could find significant fault which has caused the claimed injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman