Cumbria County Council (20 013 483)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 31-Aug-2021

Summary: Ms X complained the Council reclaimed unspent direct payments it provided to her as her mother’s carer. The Council was not at fault for reclaiming the unspent funds. It was at fault for not advising Ms X it intended to do this and for not giving her four weeks’ notice in line with its terms and conditions. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Ms X to acknowledge the frustration caused. It has also agreed to take action to prevent a recurrence of the fault.

Isle of Wight Council (21 000 195)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 27-Aug-2021

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision not to reimburse her deceased father’s estate for the care she provided him between November 2019 and March 2020. We find the Council was at fault in how it considered whether Mr Y’s direct payments could be used to pay for the care Mrs X provided. That has meant he paid for care he was entitled to receive financial support for. The Council has agreed to reimburse Mr Y’s estate with the direct payments for the care Mrs X provided. It will also review its policy on direct payments.

Birmingham City Council (20 007 920)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 25-Aug-2021

Summary: Mr and Mrs X complained about the way the Council reassessed their adult son Mr S’s care needs and about its failure to cover the cost of an increase in the care provider’s hourly rate. The Council was at fault. It delayed reassessing Mr S and has not shown how the revised budget is sufficient to meet Mr S’s needs. It has not backdated the direct payments sufficiently leaving Mr S in debt to the care provider. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mr and Mrs X to acknowledge the frustration the faults caused them. It has agreed to pay the backdated amount owed to the care provider and to produce evidence to show how the budget is sufficient to meet Mr S’s needs.

London Borough of Ealing (21 003 629)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Direct payments 23-Aug-2021

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about funds due to be repaid to the Council following the closure of his Direct Payment account. This is because it is unlikely we would add to the Council’s response which explains Mr X needs to provide further specific documents which will enable the Council to fully reconcile the account and calculate the amount due.

Herefordshire Council (20 011 186)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 23-Aug-2021

Summary: There is evidence of fault in this complaint. The Council reduced Mr Y’s direct payment because it wrongly believed direct payments cannot be spent on social/community activities, which in this case were identified as an eligible need.

North Lincolnshire Council (20 013 279)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Direct payments 12-Aug-2021

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council assessed the complainant’s finances. This is because it is not yet possible to determine if he has suffered significant injustice.

Devon County Council (21 002 753)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Direct payments 10-Aug-2021

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to raise Mr Y’s personal assistant’s wages. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

Surrey County Council (20 011 374)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 03-Aug-2021

Summary: There was fault by the Council as it did not act in line with the Ethical Framework for Adult Social Care during the first lockdown because it made no attempts to contact Mrs X and her family. The Council has agreed to make a retrospective direct payment and this remedies the injustice.

Essex County Council (20 012 711)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 28-Jul-2021

Summary: There was fault by the Council. It failed to deal with Miss B’s request to increase direct payments for her daughter’s care for over two years, despite her repeated contact to resolve this. This caused Miss B prolonged and significant distress as she became more fearful that her daughter’s care would be terminated. The Council should apologise to Miss B and her daughter, make a payment to her, and review how it can prevent the fault recurring.

London Borough of Hillingdon (20 001 443)

Statement Upheld Direct payments 16-Jul-2021

Summary: Mrs X complained on behalf of her mother, Mrs Y, that the Council stopped Mrs Y’s direct payments too early. That resulted in Mrs Y receiving invoices from HMRC and PayPacket, the third-party company who processed the payments to her carer. The Ombudsman found fault causing injustice when the Council failed to maintain proper oversight of Mrs Y’s direct payment.