Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council suspending Mr X’s direct payments. Any fault by the Council has not caused Mr X’s injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council wrongly suspended his direct payments without valid reason or warning. He says it also failed to respond to his complaint. Mr X says he is struggling to cope without the care and support he needs to assist with medication and personal care. He wants the Council to reinstate his direct payments, provide explanations and make service improvements. He also wants it to compensate him for the unnecessary stress he has experienced and potential decline in his health conditions.

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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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (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. Mr X began receiving direct payments from the Council in 2020 to pay for his care and support.
6. Councils decide whether to agree to requests for direct payments, by considering the person’s ability to manage them by themselves or with support. They then must satisfy themselves that the direct payment is being used to meet the care and support needs set out in the person’s plan, and should therefore proportionally monitor direct payment usage. (Care and Support Statutory Guidance, 12.14 and 12.24)
7. Mr X signed an agreement in 2020 which clearly set out his responsibilities in receiving direct payments. The Council explained verbally to Mr X in November 2022 there were several issues with how he was managing his direct payments and it asked him to provide evidence and take some actions.
8. Mr says the Council did not give him a written warning before it then suspended his payments in January 2023. The agreement Mr X signed says the Council would provide written warnings before stopping his direct payments, so if we investigated this complaint we may find fault if the Council had not done so.
9. However, despite the Council’s verbal explanation and written explanations during the complaint process of what is required, the evidence I have seen shows Mr X has not taken the steps the Council asked him to. On the balance of probabilities, a written warning would not have influenced the action Mr X took.
10. The Council’s complaint response also says Mr X refused the option of a commissioned care package in the interim, to ensure his needs for care and support are met. Therefore, if we investigated this complaint we would be unlikely to find that any fault by the Council had caused Mr X’s injustice of missed care and support.
11. It is open to Mr X to provide the evidence the Council requires for it to confirm he has appropriately managed his direct payments, or alternatively to accept a commissioned package of support.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any fault by the Council has not caused Mr X’s injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman