
The review comes after an LGO investigation into payments made to a grandmother caring for her grandchild under a special guardianship order (SGO) revealed that the local authority was taking benefits payments into account when calculating allowances for guardians, which goes against government recommendations.
Around 170 special guardians may have been impacted he council’s blanket policy of deducting child benefits from special guardians who receive universal credit, according to the ombudsman’s report.
Meanwhile, 125 other carers were found to have no information recorded by the council, leaving them at risk of recalculations of their allowances without financial circumstances recorded.
Following the report by LGO Amerdeep Somal, Devon County Council has agreed to apologise to the grandmother involved in the initial complaint and recalculate her special guardianship allowance.
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