Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the amount the Council assessed him as having to contribute towards the cost of his care and support, about the Council passing his debt to an enforcement agent, and about cutting his care and support hours. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the amount the Council assessed him as having to contribute towards the cost of his care and support. He also complains about the Council passing his debt to an enforcement agency and that it cut his care hours.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X complaints about the Council reducing his care and support hours is late as this happened in 2022. It is noted Mr X did not have any capacity to manage his finances in 2022. However, there is no evidence that Mr X also lacked capacity to manage his care and support. Therefore, there does not appear to be any good reasons for why Mr X did not complain earlier.
7. Even if we were to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint, an investigation is not justified. This is because the Council has explained that Mr X’s care hours were reduced because he was not engaging with the support that was being provided. Therefore, we are not likely to find fault.
8. The Council was previously Mr X’s financial appointee, and it managed his financial affairs as Mr X lacked capacity to do so himself.
9. Mr X asked the Council to end its management of his finances and for him to manage it independently. A mental capacity assessment was completed which decided Mr X had capacity to manage his finances. Therefore, the Council ended its appointeeship in February 2023.
10. The Council sent Mr X a letter in February 2023 which detailed all the payments the Council had been making as his appointee. The letter noted that all benefit payments would now be paid directly to Mr X and that he was responsible for managing his payments.
11. The Council sent Mr X letters in February 2023, March 2024, and March 2025 which outlined the outcome of Mr X’s financial assessment. The letters also detailed how much Mr X had been assessed as needing to contribute towards his care and support.
12. The Council said the debt Mr X has accrued is due to him not paying his assessed contributions.
13. The Council can charge individuals for this care and support. The Council must complete a financial assessment to determine how much an individual needs to contribute. The Council has evidenced it did this and told Mr X of how much he needed to pay. Therefore, an investigation is not proportionate as we are not likely to find fault.
14. In addition, Mr X was responsible for paying his assessed contributions. Given the debt has accrued due to Mr X failing to pay his assessed contributions, we are not likely to find fault with the Council for passing the debt to enforcement agents as the Council is entitled to recover the debt owed.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman