The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s management of Mr X’s finances. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council's management of his finances.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council acts as a corporate appointee for Mr X and manages his benefits.
Mr X complained to the Council that he was unhappy with the way the Council was managing his finances. He said he was left without money on occasion and his requests for financial assistance were unfairly turned down.
The Council did not uphold the complaint. The Council said it considered Mr X’s requests on an individual basis and listed the reasons why it had turned down some of his requests for more money. The Council told Mr X he could apply to increase his personal allowance to the Court of Protection. The Council also told Mr X it had attempted to carry out a capacity assessment to determine whether Mr X was capable of managing his own finances, but Mr X had either cancelled the appointment or failed to engage with the process.
Mr X remains unhappy with the Council’s response and wants us to find the Council at fault. The evidence shows the Council has provided clear reasons for why it has managed Mr X’s finances in the way it has. The Council has provided Mr X with the options available to him if he wishes to have his personal allowance increased. Mr X also has right of appeal to the Department of Work and Pensions if he is unhappy with the terms of the appointeeship. There is no evidence of wrongdoing in the Council’s decision making and so an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman