Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an invoice the Council sent to the complainant to reclaim an overpayment of direct payments. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains about an invoice the Council sent her for overpaid direct payments. Miss B says the Council decided to put homecare in and a residential care placement in place at the same time for her relative so it should contact the care agency. Miss B says the Council is trying to force her family to pay back the money when it was already towards homecare. She says the events have caused her and her family distress and she feels like the Council is harassing them. As an outcome Miss B wants the Council to acknowledge it is at fault, admit liability and not pursue for money it has sent the invoice for.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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

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. Miss B contacted the Council in late 2023 about an invoice it had sent her as it believed there had been an overpayment of direct payments. Miss B said the family had paid the money to the homecare provider to cover care arrangements until the end of December 2023. She said it was the Council’s social worker that then decided to place her relative in a residential care home when they had already paid for the homecare service. Miss B told the Council to contact the homecare provider if it wanted to reclaim the money they had paid.
7. The Council responded to the complaint in April 2024. It said when it had placed Miss B’s relative in the residential care home for further assessment the home care ended on 7 December 2023. It said it had not commissioned the homecare agency and the contract was between the homecare agency and Miss B or her relative. It said this was due to the nature of direct payments which aims to offer flexibility, choice and control to service users. The Council said Miss B would have to contact the homecare provider to ask it to repay the funds.
8. The Council said it would waive an amount shown in a separate invoice which relates to Miss B’s relative contribution towards residential care costs. It directed Miss B to complain to us if she was dissatisfied. Miss B contacted the Council again and the Council replied to her in May 2024 to respond. Following its explanation to the further points raised by Miss B it again directed her to complain to the Ombudsman and referred to the time limit which might apply. Miss B complained to us in July 2025.
9. We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now. Late complaints are when someone takes longer than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. Miss B was aware of matters from late 2023. The Council explained why it could not reclaim the direct payments from the homecare provider. If Miss B remained dissatisfied with what the Council told her over 12 months ago, she could have complained to us sooner.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman