Oxfordshire County Council (24 018 295)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Direct payments 09-Sep-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about flexibility of meeting adult social care needs. It is unlikely we would find enough evidence of fault given the Council did suggest many options. Although the complainant says they were not suitable it is unlikely we would settle that dispute. An Ombudsman investigation is therefore unlikely to achieve a different outcome.

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (24 012 946)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Direct payments 09-Sep-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council ended direct payments for his daughters’ care and support without following the correct process. This is because the issues could reasonably be or have been mentioned as part of legal proceedings on a closely related matter.

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (24 016 885)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 04-Sep-2025

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s decision to end direct payments to his relative Mr Z. There was no fault in the way the Council reached its decision. There was fault in its communication with Mr Z and in its failure to ensure there was a proper coordinated handover of care. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mr Z to acknowledge the uncertainty and distress this caused him. The Council also failed to properly explore Mr Z’s request for a day centre and Mr and Mrs X’s request for respite. It has agreed to apologise to Mr and Mrs X for the uncertainty caused, review Mr Z’s care needs assessment and carry out new carer’s assessments of Mr and Mrs X.

Cheshire East Council (24 017 993)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 04-Sep-2025

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council produced backdated billing for her sister’s care charges because it states she overpaid her carers. Mrs X also complained the Council started to charge client contributions towards her sister’s care. And, Mrs X complained about the handling of her complaint. We found fault with the Council applying top-up fees for Mrs X’s sisters care. We also found fault with the Council delaying in billing Mrs X’s sister for her client contributions. During our investigation, the Council accepted fault for charging top-up fees and agreed to remove these. The Council has also advised it is only backdating charges to 2021 rather than 2017 for the client contributions. I consider the Council’s actions suitably address the injustice caused through its fault. The Council has also agreed to apologise to Mrs X for the distress its actions caused and confirm in writing the remaining balance owed.

West Berkshire Council (24 014 783)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 04-Sep-2025

Summary: Ms K was managing a direct payment for her daughter. She complains the Council failed to ensure her parents, who were carers for her daughter, received redundancy pay. We have upheld the complaint as the Council did not properly keep the direct payments under review. The Council has now agreed to make the redundancy payments, which in our view is a suitable remedy.

Buckinghamshire Council (25 003 262)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Direct payments 01-Sep-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the support provided to her as a carer between 2020 and 2023 and during recent legal proceedings. Part of the complaint is late and we cannot investigate matters related to court proceedings.

West Sussex County Council (24 017 325)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 21-Aug-2025

Summary: Mr F complained the Council failed to meet his care and support needs and wrongly charged him for his care. I found no fault in the way the Council decided how to meet Mr F’s needs or in its calculations of his contributions. The Council failed to carry out a carer’s assessment of Mr F’s carer, Mr J. This was fault which causes Mr J uncertainty about whether other support could have been offered. The Council has agreed to offer a carers assessment to Mr J and pay him £300 to remedy the injustice.

Suffolk County Council (25 003 826)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Direct payments 17-Aug-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint concerning a direct payments contingency fund. This is because the complainant has confirmed the Council has resolved her complaint by adding to her care provision so we could not add anything more.

Suffolk County Council (24 016 358)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 11-Aug-2025

Summary: Miss C complained on her own behalf and that of her son, Mr D, who has care needs. We upheld her complaint, finding the Council undertook a flawed review of Mr D’s care needs. This resulted in it wrongly stopping him paying Miss C as his carer, against his wishes. This caused unnecessary distress to both Miss C and Mr D and contributed to Mr D having no organised care provision after July 2024. The Council has accepted these findings. At the end of this statement, we set out the action it has agreed to remedy this injustice and improve its service to avoid a repeat.

London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (24 017 905)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 10-Aug-2025

Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to meet her assessed care needs. The Council delayed assessing Ms X’s needs, delayed setting up the direct payments and failed to provide interim care impacting Ms X’s health and wellbeing. A symbolic payment is agreed.