Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to suspend direct payments to her. The Council has thoroughly investigated Ms X’s concerns and we could not add to its response nor achieve the outcome Ms X wants.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains Council Officers unfairly accused her of committing fraud when it suspended direct payments for her care. Ms X says she did not receive the care and support she needed while the direct payments were suspended, which caused her significant distress. Ms X wants the Council to provide backdated direct payments for the suspended period and compensation for the distress its actions caused.

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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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Council undertook a thorough investigation into Ms X’s complaints, which included interviewing the Officers alleged to have accused Ms X of fraud and reviewing all case records. The Council has explained it does not have recordings of Ms X’s calls with Officers to independently verify the content of the discussions. In the absence of independent evidence, it would not be possible for us to definitively determine what precisely was said.
5. The Council has also given Ms X a detailed explanation why it suspended her direct payments, apologised for a slight delay in offering alternative support and clarified that all support was stopped because Ms X appeared to no longer have two eligible care needs to qualify for Council assistance.
6. We could not add to the investigation the Council has already completed or its detailed responses to Ms X. There is no additional evidence we could consider to justify our involvement nor can we achieve the outcomes Ms X wants.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman