Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her direct payments. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s handling of her direct payments. She says the payment is not enough to meet her needs and she is unhappy the Council wants to put her on a managed account.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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))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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X complains that in 2022 her day centre put its prices up, but the Council did not increase its direct payments.
6. I will not investigate this, as the complaint is late. This is because the matter complained about, happened more than 12 months ago.
7. The time for us receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council, or it issued its final response. I see no reason why Ms X could not have complained to us sooner about this. I will however consider Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s actions in regard to her direct payments from 2023.
8. The Council reviewed Ms X’s care plan and spending. It found Ms X was paying for more hours of care than agreed, meaning there were insufficient funds in her direct payment account. It has since explained to Ms X what she can use direct payments for and advised her how she can avoid overspends. It also covered the additional care costs up to September 2024.
9. There is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council has concluded that Ms X is overspending her direct payments or the advice it has given her to avoid this.
10. The additional payments made by the Council to cover the deficit were discretionary and we could not find fault for these payments stopping.
11. The Council suggested Ms X moved to a managed account to support her in managing her direct payments. The Council is entitled to make a suggestion, and this has not yet happened. We cannot consider a complaint about a decision not yet made.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint, because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman