An investigation has revealed that Devon County Council has been calculating incorrectly allowances for families who look after children as special guardians.
An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) found the council had a blanket policy of deducting child benefit from all special guardians receiving universal credit.
The local authority agreed to change this policy with effect from January 2024 and has agreed to look into how it calculated allowances to nearly 300 families.
Ms Amerdeep Somal, LGSCO, said: ‘It is disappointing that the council cannot provide us with any evidence that it considered the individual circumstances of special guardians receiving means-tested benefits before making the deductions and instead applied its policy to everyone without justification.
‘In addition to this, it relied on its own policy to make these calculations – not national guidance – but its policy was based on its misunderstanding of our decisions in other cases.’
A Devon CC spokesperson said: ‘We fully accept the report’s findings and in anticipation of the publication of the report, the council’s Cabinet agreed in the autumn of 2023 to adopt the method of calculation recommended by the Ombudsman with effect from January 1 2024. We have almost completed a review of all of the payments that we make and adjusted allowances accordingly where required.’
