Ombudsman criticises council over childcare arrangements
Joe Lepper
Friday, June 24, 2016
A council has been criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) for failing to properly support a working mother of two teenage disabled children with her childcare needs.
LGO Dr Jane Martin found that Kent County Council wrongly put in place a "blanket restriction" barring her from using "banked" direct payments to cover the cost of out of term time childcare, and for failing to support her dual role as a working mother and carer.
The mother had specifically wanted to use the payments for childcare so that she could work during school holidays when her teenage son returned home from his residential school.
But the council refused to sanction this and instead told her she should take the time off from her annual leave, which she had mostly used up to attend health, education and social care appointments for her two sons.
The LGO found that if the council had carried out a proper assessment of the family's needs extra care hours would have been offered.
Martin said: "Government guidance is very clear that authorities should give consideration to carers who want to work. Councils won't necessarily have to provide additional support, but they do need to assess people's individual situations properly.
"In this case Kent County Council applied a blanket policy and did not consider the rather unique circumstances of this family. It did not look at the needs of the child and the carer holistically or recognise that care provided for young people aged 16 or 17 is very different to usual childcare."
The LGO was particularly concerned about the stress the council's failures had caused to the mother who "felt constantly in a battle to obtain support". This impacted on her health and also prompted her to seek out an alternative school where her son could stay outside of term times.
Kent County Council has agreed to meet all the LGO's recommendations including paying the mother £1,000 in recognition of the stress she underwent and the time involved in pursuing her complaint.
The council is also recommended to revise its direct payments policy, review local childcare and short break options for older disabled children as well as provide training for officers and managers on carrying out social care assessments when dealing with direct payments.
