Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about direct payments. That is because the complaint is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion and consider it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council stopped her direct payments without notice. She complained to the Council about her social worker. She said they were not supporting her human rights.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council stopped her direct payments. The Council stopped these payments in 2018 after it assessed her as no-longer having care and support needs. Therefore, any complaint about the Council’s decision to stop these payments is late. It was reasonable for Miss X to complain to us sooner if she was unhappy with the Council’s decision.
8. The Council allocated a social worker to reassess Miss X’s care needs at the start of 2023. Miss X did not engage with that social worker, so the Council allocated her a different one. The Council did not assess Miss X as having care needs. However, it said it had contacted its housing service to provide advice about the maintenance of her property.
9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaints about the social worker not supporting her human rights. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement. If Miss X is unhappy with the outcome of her adult social care assessment, she would need to complain to the Council before we would consider it.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman