Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council reduced her personal budget. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s decision to reduce her personal budget. She said that she needed the personal budget to support her in caring for her adult son, Mr Y. She said she also had young children to care for. She said the Council had incorrectly said she did not engage in the reassessment process.
2. Ms X also complained about how the Council completed a capacity assessment for Mr Y in 2021, and about how it dealt with a safeguarding referral in 2022.
3. Ms X wants the Council to reinstate the personal budget it agreed in 2016.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. 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))
6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. 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

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. The Council agreed a personal budget for Ms X in 2017. That was to support her in her caring role for Mr Y. The Council said it tried to review Ms X’s needs during 2023 but struggled to engage with her. It stopped her personal budget at the end of 2023 because of a surplus balance and concerns about how Ms X has spent the money.
11. At the start of 2024, Ms X asked the Council for a reassessment. The Council reinstated her personal budget whilst it completed that reassessment. The carers assessment showed the Council:
• Offered Ms X additional support to meet Mr Y’s care needs, including a personal assistant and increased time at day care.
• Included a payment into Mr Y’s personal budget, for a holiday where Ms X could use extended family for support.
• Made a referral to Children’s Social Care for support with her younger children.
• Signposted Ms X to other organisations to support her with needs identified within the assessment.
12. There were types of support that Ms X asked for which the Council decided not to fund. The assessment sets out its reasons for this.
13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. The assessment demonstrates the Council has considered Ms X’s needs; how she supports Mr Y and what she would like to spend her carers budget on. It has set out its reasons for its decision making; there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
14. Ms X also complained about how the Council completed a mental capacity assessment for Mr Y in 2021. She said it failed to take safeguarding action in 2022. Both these complaints are late because the events Ms X complains of took place more than 12 months ago. We have discretion to set this restriction aside, however, it was reasonable for Ms X to complain to us sooner if she was unhappy with the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman