The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about direct payments as there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify investigating.
The complaint
Miss X complained about the amount of information the Council provided about direct payments in 2018. She said it did not tell her that a different family member could apply for direct payments for her adult son, Y. Because of this, she said the Council had failed to meet Y’s care and support needs for three years.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council completed a care needs assessment for Y in 2017 and agreed he could have direct payments to meet his assessed eligible needs.
Miss X contacted the Council in January 2018. She said she did not want to continue with the carers assessment or Y’s care plan. She said the tone of the direct payment contract was “hostile and intimidating”. The Council responded to her email and explained it was a standard contract. It said she could refer Y back for support at any point.
Miss X complained to the Council in February 2022 about the lack of support it had provided over the previous three years. In the Council’s response, it explained for Y to access direct payments he would need a further Adult Social Care assessment. It explained following that, it could look at setting up direct payments to meet his needs.
Although Miss X feels the Council did not give her enough information in 2018 to make an informed choice, this is not something we will investigate further. Given, the events happened four years ago, it is unlikely we could now come to a fair or meaningful decision on what happened. In addition, the Council agreed to provide Y’s support through direct payments in 2018, and it was Miss X’s choice to refuse that support. Therefore, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify investigating.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman