Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s decision to stop her direct payments without prior notice. She also complained the Council left her without care for several months after agreeing to complete a reassessment. We have not investigated Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to stop her direct payments without prior notice as it is late, and there are no good reasons to investigate it. The Council was not at fault for how it handled the reassessment of Ms X’s care and support needs.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s decision to stop her direct payments without prior notice. She also complained the Council left her without care for several months.
2. Ms X says the matter has caused significant distress and upset to her and her daughter.
3. Ms X is represented by her advocate, Mr Z, in bringing her complaint to the Ombudsman.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
5. 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)
6. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and s34H(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

7. Ms X was aware of the Council’s decision to stop her direct payments in January 2024. She complained to the Council in June 2024 and received a final response in July 2024. We did not receive her complaint until June 2025.
8. In the Council’s complaint response in July 2024, it said Ms X could contact it if she was unhappy with the response so it could advise what options were available to her if she wanted to escalate her complaint. It would have been reasonable for her to do have done so if she was unhappy with the Council’s response. The Council has a copy of its complaints procedure on its website which signposts complainants to us if they are not happy with its complaint response. Mr Z was also working with Ms X from July 2024 onwards and so she had access to support.
9. I am satisfied there are no good reasons why Ms X did not refer the complaint to us sooner. Therefore, I will not exercise discretion to investigate the Council’s decision to stop Ms X’s direct payments in January 2024 without prior notice. I will however refer to events from January 2024 onwards for contextual purposes.
10. I have investigated Ms X’s complaint the Council left her without care/how it handled the reassessment of her care and support needs from June to November 2024 (when the Council reinstated her direct payments account).

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How I considered this complaint

11. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
12. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Care Plan

13. The Care Act 2014 gives councils a legal responsibility to provide a care and support plan (or a support plan for a carer). The care and support plan should consider what needs the person has, what they want to achieve, what they can do by themselves or with existing support and what care and support may be available in the local area. 

Direct payments

14. Direct payments are monetary payments made to individuals who ask for them to meet some or all of their eligible care and support needs. They enable people to arrange their own care and support to meet those needs. The council must ensure people have relevant and timely information about direct payments so they can decide whether to request them. If they do so, the council should support them to use and manage the payment properly.

Reviews

15. Section 27 of the Care Act 2014 says councils should keep care and support plans under review. Government Care and Support Statutory Guidance says councils should review plans at least every 12 months. Councils should consider a light touch review six to eight weeks after agreeing and signing off the plan and personal budget. They should carry out reviews as quickly as is reasonably practicable in a timely manner proportionate to the needs to be met. Councils must also conduct a review if an adult or a person acting on the adult’s behalf makes a reasonable request for one.

What happened

16. Ms X has eligible care and support needs. She uses direct payments to meet those needs.
17. The Council contacted Ms X in January 2024 to discuss concerns about unauthorised spending on her direct payments account. It decided to stop her direct payments account to ensure there was no further overspend. It said it would complete a reassessment of her care and support and create a new care and support plan. This was to ensure she understood what her eligible care and support needs were and how to use her direct payments properly.
18. Ms X asked to have an advocate for the reassessment process. The social worker made a referral to advocacy agency in late January.
19. The advocacy agency provided Ms X with an advocate in February. Ms X and the social worker exchanged several emails about agreeing an appropriate date and time for the reassessment. Ms X said she wanted to put the advocacy support on hold because she had not met the advocate. She also asked to reschedule the reassessment until the end of April because of other commitments.
20. The social worker visited Ms X in early May to start the reassessment. Ms X said she did not need an advocate for the reassessment, but she wanted one for the care and support planning process.
21. Ms X’s new advocate contacted the social worker and said Ms X could not focus on her support needs because of her mental health. Ms X wanted the advocacy support to be put on hold until she had received an outcome regarding the direct payments.
22. Ms X complained to the Council in June. She said it stopped her direct payments account without warning. She also said she was now without any care and support.
23. Ms X’s advocate updated the social worker in mid-June and said Ms X had refused previous visits to discuss her care and support needs. They said they had offered to visit Ms X again in July.
24. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint in late July. It said it had delayed carrying out reviews of Ms X’s care and support needs, and it had not completed a full audit of her direct payments account. It apologised for this. It decided not to recover the misspent funds. It encouraged Ms X to engage with her social worker so it could complete her care and support plan and ensure she had appropriate care and support for her needs.
25. Ms X emailed the social worker in early August and said she was ready to move forwards. The social worker said the next step was to hold a care planning meeting to draw up a care and support plan.
26. The care and support planning meeting took place in early September. Ms X said she wanted some time to think about what support she needed to access the community, engage in work and carry out caring responsibilities for her child. She asked to look at that part of the care and support plan another time. The social worker agreed to this.
27. The social worker sent Ms X a copy of her care and support plan in October.
28. Ms X attended a further meeting in early November with the social worker to discuss the other parts of her care and support plan. The Council updated Ms X’s care and support plan in mid-November. She then started receiving direct payments to meet her eligible needs.
29. Mr Z referred Ms X’s complaint to us in June 2025.

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Analysis

30. Ms X’s complaint about the Council leaving her without support is directly linked to the Council’s reassessment of her needs and how long it took to have her direct payments reinstated.
31. There are no specific timescales for how long councils should take in carrying out reviews and reassessments. However, the care and support statutory guidance states they should be completed as quickly as is reasonably practicable in a timely manner proportionate to the needs to be met.
32. In this case, I am satisfied, on balance, the Council completed Ms X’s reassessment as quickly as was practicable and there was no significant drift. It recognised Ms X’s needs and that she needed time to process information. It waited before she had received the outcome to her complaint before it continued with the care and planning process. It also had two meetings with her, as she requested, to draw up her care and support plan and ensure it understood her needs. The Council acted reasonably and it was not at fault.

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Decision

33. I have completed my investigation. The Council was not at fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman