The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to backdate a Special Guardianship allowance. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation and investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
Mr X complains that the Council are not backdating a Special Guardianship allowance and believes it should be paid from when they first contacted the Council.
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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In August 2022, Mr X and his wife contacted because they wanted to become special guardians of their grandson.
The Social Worker who carried out the assessment said the Council might backdate the allowance if it had placed the child in their care. The Council later said this was a private family arrangement, not one made by the Council. It apologised for the incorrect advice and offered a remedy payment in recognition of raising expectations.
The final order was granted in 2024. The Council accepted there was a delay in providing the finalised reports and apologised to Mr X. It also agreed a discretionary payment towards legal fees.
I will not investigate this complaint further because there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made its decision. There is no duty for the Council to backdate payments to before the special guardianship order was in place. The Council has apologised for raising Mr X’s expectations and offered a financial remedy, further investigation into this element of her complaint would not lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation and investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman