Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision after care assessments to end direct payments to Mr X and Mr Y. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council reached its decision to warrant investigation by us

The complaint

1. A relative, Mrs Z, complained on behalf of family members, Mr X and Mr Y, that there was fault in the way the Council re-assessed their care needs and ended direct payments. She said the social worker who carried out the second assessments that led to the enduing of the direct payments was not truly independent as she worked for the Council.

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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.

(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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council carried out two assessments of both Mr X and Mr Y. It accepted there were inaccuracies in the first assessments of the two men and agreed to carry out two fresh assessments five months later. Any fault in the first assessments would have been rectified by the decision to re-assess from scratch.
6. The fresh assessments were more detailed than the first ones, and provided reasons for the conclusions formed from the evidence gathered. They recommended the ending of all direct payments to both men. The reasons given were ones the assessor could adduce based on her observations. I am not entitled to offer an alternative view in the absence of any procedural fault in the way the assessment was carried out. That Mrs Z takes a different view of the assessment of her relatives’ needs, or finds the assessor should not have been employed by the Council, is not evidence of fault.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s and Mr Y’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision to warrant investigation by us.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman