Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delays in the Council completing a care act assessment for Ms X’s son and its subsequent decision not to backdate direct payments. A complaint about that is late and there are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider it now. Additionally, we will not investigate a complaint about the Councils request to reassess Ms X’s son and its decision on how his direct payment can be used. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about delays in the Council carrying out a care act assessment (CAA) for her son (Y). She also complained about the Councils decision not to backdate direct payments after the CAA was finalised in May 2024.
2. Ms X raised a second complaint to the Council after the Council contacted her to arrange a reassessment of Y’s care needs. Additionally, she also complained the Council did not tell her she could become Y’s personal assistant (PA).
3. Ms X said the matters caused stress to her and Y and caused a financial impact.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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’, 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

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

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My assessment

9. The Council received a referral for a CAA, for Y, in July 2023 and it decided to assess Y, in September 2023. Ms X said after this, several assessments were carried out by different social workers and this caused stress to Y who has additional support needs.
10. The Council finalised Y’s CAA in May 2024 and decided it would backdate direct payments to April 2024 only. Ms X was unhappy with this.
11. As outlined in paragraph five, we cannot investigate late complaints, where a person has known about a matter for more than 12 months. In this case, Ms X was aware of the Councils decision not to further backdate payments from May 2024 but did not complain to the Ombudsman until July 2025. I have considered whether to exercise our discretion to investigate the complaint but have seen no good reasons to do so and therefore will not investigate this complaint.
12. Further, Ms X raised a new complaint to the Council in June 2025 as outlined at paragraph two. Ms X complained about repeated requests from Y’s social worker for further assessments and how she was not told she could become Y’s PA.
13. The Council responded to this new complaint in July 2025 and told Ms X how, given Y receives Council commissioned support, the allocated worker is required to complete periodic reviews, typically every year.
14. Additionally, it told Ms X direct payments cannot usually be paid to family members living in the same household as the person, which is the case for her and Y. Therefore, this is the reason the option of becoming Y’s PA was not presented to her.
15. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council here and therefore we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because part of it is late, with no good reasons for us to consider it now and of the matters which are in time, there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman