Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay processing a direct debit form for to start taking payments for care charges. The Council remedied the injustice caused when it investigated the complaint. We cannot achieve more.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complains the Council failed to set a direct debit to take charges for her father’s care for about eight months. Mrs B says her father, Mr Y, completed a direct debit form, so he is not at fault for the arrears which have accrued. She says her father is ill and stressed because of the situation. Mrs B says she is having to work while trying to deal with her father’s affairs because of the Council’s fault and this causes her distress and worry. Mrs B wants the Council to write off the arrears and then start collecting the direct debit payments to prevent a similar occurrence.

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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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal; or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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 including the Council’s response to her complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr Y receives care and support at home arranged by the Council. He provided financial information to the Council in September 2024 to inform its financial assessment. The Council told him it would start to collect his client contribution payments from February 2025.
6. The Council said it had issues setting up the direct debit to take the payments. This meant the direct debit payments did not come out of Mr Y’s bank account for about eight months. Mrs B complained to the Council about this.
7. The Council sent its final response in August 2025 and said it had experienced issues with its new finance system. This led to a delay setting up the direct debit to collect Mr Y’s care contributions from his bank account.
8. The Council partially upheld the complaint and apologised for the inconvenience and the issues Mr Y had experienced. It said it could not waive the accrued charges because Mr Y was aware he would be charged following the financial assessment completed which showed he could afford to contribute to his care costs. It acknowledged the impact of the arrears and how it might affect Mr Y if he had to pay a lump sum. The Council offered a flexible repayment plan to repay the amount owed.
9. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because the Council acted to remedy the injustice caused when it investigated her complaint. The Council accepted it was at fault and explained what had caused the delay taking the payments. It apologised and offered an affordable repayment plan. We cannot achieve more.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because the Council remedied the injustice caused when it investigated her complaint. We cannot achieve more.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman