Summary: Mrs X complained the Council incorrectly stopped paying her direct payments. The Council has accepted it was at fault. It has agreed to backdate the payments owed and pay Mrs X £250 to acknowledge the avoidable distress caused by this. There is nothing we could achieve from further investigation therefore we will not investigate this complaint.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council had not paid her direct payments since August 2021. She said that had caused her distress as she was worried about paying for her care and support.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X received direct payments from the Council of £1050 a month which she used to pay for her care and support.
6. She complained to the Council in September 2021. She said the Council had not paid her direct payments into her bank account since August. She also said the Council had said it was reducing the direct payment amount without telling her.
7. In the Council’s complaint response, it apologised for not telling Mrs X about the change in the direct payment amount. It said it would reinstate the higher amount until it had reviewed her care needs and created a new support plan.
8. Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman in December. She said the Council had still not paid the direct payments as agreed. We contacted the Council and it confirmed it had not paid Mrs X the direct payments. It said that was an error caused by internal miscommunication. The Council agreed to backdate Mrs X’s direct payments at the higher amount and to pay her £250 for the avoidable distress caused by not receiving the payments.
9. The Council’s remedy is in line with our Guidance on Remedies and there is nothing further we could achieve. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint further.

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Agreed action

10. The Council has agreed to take the following action within four weeks of our final decision:
• Backdate the direct payments owed to Mrs X and pay these at the higher amount.
• Pay Mrs X £250 for the avoidable distress caused.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is nothing further investigation would achieve.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman