A grandmother was left with no furniture, carpets or heating and forced to sleep on the floor after the council failed to pay her four years’ worth of foster care.

The Greenwich grandmother became her grandson’s primary carer following local council concerns his mother was unfit to look after him, but failed to tell her about financial assistance available when she took on the role.

This was despite the grandmother calling Greenwich Council repeatedly over multiple years explaining her financial plight.

These calls for help included telling the council she had no carpets or furniture, was sleeping on a mattress on the floor, couldn’t afford heating over the winter and had got into debt through borrowing.

She told the council she could not understand why it would not help her, unaware that the council could pay her foster care.

The local government and social care ombudsman investigated her case and found the council had repeatedly missed opportunities from 2011- 2015 to carry out an assessment whether she would be entitled to financial assistance.

Greenwich Council has agreed to apologise to the grandmother, pay her as if she had been a friends and family foster carer from March 2011 to December 2015, and pay her £500 for the frustration it caused by not carrying out a financial assessment sooner.

Michael King, local government and social care ombudsman, said: “When they are involved in making care arrangements, councils must give families clear information about the help available to them and who will be financially responsible for the child.

“Greenwich council missed numerous opportunities to help this grandmother and, when it did realise its duty towards her and her grandson, decided not to backdate the support she was due. This must have had a significant impact on the boy’s welfare.

“I am pleased the council has accepted my recommendations and hope the changes it has made will ensure other foster carers in the borough are not impacted in this way.

“We issued a report into councils’ duties towards friends and family foster carers in 2013, and this case serves as a timely reminder of the effects on vulnerable families when councils get things wrong.”

A Greenwich Council spokesperson said: “The Council has accepted the findings of the report and is implementing the recommendations of the Local Government Ombudsman.

"The report acknowledged that the case is historical and improvements that have been made since, including that Children’s Services are now rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted.

"It was also acknowledged that the Council correctly interpreted the law on backdating payments but the Ombudsman decided to rule in favour of the complainant. The Council has accepted this position, has apologised and awarded compensation.”