SGO Post-Order Support and Annual Review in Wales

The SGO is sealed, the hearing is over, and you finally have legal security. But for many special guardians in Wales, the months after the order is granted feel like falling off a cliff — the social worker who supported you through the assessment disappears, phone calls go unreturned, and the financial support you were promised starts to feel uncertain. Understanding what your council owes you after the order helps you hold them to it.

Your Support Plan Does Not Expire With the Hearing

Where the assessment identifies a need for ongoing support, the local authority must prepare a draft Special Guardianship Support Plan before the SGO is granted and share it with the prospective guardian. Once finalised, the plan should set out the support agreed, such as:

• Any regular financial allowance (amount, payment schedule, review date)
• Any settling-in grants or lump-sum payments agreed
• Respite care arrangements
• Therapeutic support for the child (if identified in the assessment)
• Contact arrangements with birth parents
• How and when the plan will be reviewed

If you were never given a copy of the finalised support plan, ask for it in writing. You are entitled to see the document — it is your plan, not an internal council file.

Annual Reviews Are Mandatory

Under the Special Guardianship (Wales) Regulations 2005, Welsh local authorities must review your support plan at least once a year. The annual review should assess:

• Whether the financial allowance is still appropriate (your circumstances may have changed)
• Whether the child's needs have changed (educational, therapeutic, or medical)
• Whether additional support categories are now needed (respite, training, mediation)
• Whether any agreed services have actually been delivered

In practice, some councils are better at this than others. Swansea's FAFT team sends an annual review letter to all guardians proactively. Other councils require you to chase them. If your review date passes without contact, write to the team manager — a letter creates a paper trail that a phone call does not.

What to Raise at Your Review

The annual review is your opportunity to adjust the support package. Common issues that come up:

• The child has started school and needs uniform, equipment, or additional support. Ask whether the PDG (Pupil Development Grant) applies and whether the council will fund anything beyond what the school provides.
• Your health has changed. If caring has become more physically demanding, raise respite care and ask for it to be written into the plan.
• The allowance has not kept pace with inflation. Welsh councils are not required to index-link SGO allowances unless their published policy says so. If your allowance has stayed flat while costs have risen, ask for a reassessment.
• Contact arrangements with birth parents have become difficult. The council can provide family mediation as a prescribed support service under Regulation 3.

What Happens If the Council Stops Responding

The assessment and review duties are statutory; whether a particular allowance or service is provided depends on the assessment and the council's policy. If your council stops reviewing your plan, reduces your allowance without conducting a proper reassessment, or refuses to provide services written into your support plan:

1. Put it in writing. Email or write to the social worker and their team manager, referencing the support plan and the annual review requirement under the 2005 Regulations.
2. Formal complaint. Lodge a complaint through the council's Social Services Complaints Officer. The Social Services Complaints Procedure (Wales) Regulations govern a two-stage internal process.
3. Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. If the internal process fails, escalate. The Ombudsman can investigate maladministration and procedural unfairness.
4. Judicial review. For a council that has unlawfully refused to carry out a Section 14F assessment or has adopted a blanket policy of refusing support, judicial review in the Administrative Court is the backstop — but this requires legal advice and has strict time limits.

You Can Request a New Assessment at Any Time

The right to request a Section 14F support-needs assessment does not expire. If your circumstances change between annual reviews — or if you never had a proper assessment in the first place — you can request one at any time. The local authority must carry it out.

The Kinship Care in Wales guide includes an Annual Review Tracker and a template for requesting a reassessment, designed to help you stay on top of your council's obligations without relying on them to remind you.

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