Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council dealt with Ms B’s direct payments. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Ms B complains the Council has not paid her direct payment so she can pay her care workers. She says she was forced to pay her care workers to ensure she received care and support. Ms B says the Council should pay her care workers and refund her for payments she made to her care workers.

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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 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 and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. 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.
6. Ms B complained to the Council about her direct payments arrangement. Ms B said she had been receiving care and support but she was not getting a response from the direct payment support agency to pay her personal assistant despite submitting timesheets. Ms B said she wanted the matter reviewed and appropriately compensated.
7. The Council responded to the complaint and said direct payments support had been provided by a third-party agency (the agency) since May 2021. Support included payroll and employment advice and paying the personal assistants monthly. As part of the direct payments agreement the recipient agreed to provide monthly timesheets to confirm the hours paid to their personal assistant. There was an obligation to inform the Council and the agency about any changes.
8. The Council’s complaint investigation found that Ms B had informed the agency she had employed a new personal assistant in March 2025. The agency had said it did not receive timesheets from Ms B and had asked her to provide them.
9. A Council officer was allocated to complete a care in August and decide whether direct payments or a commissioned service was best for Ms B. The officer spoke with Ms B’s previous personal assistant who confirmed they had not provided care and support since May 2025. Ms B said she had a new personal assistant but had only provided their first name. The Council said it and the agency could not verify the person so they could be paid. The Council said it could not confirm the person was meeting Ms B’s needs as outlined in her care and support plan as she had not agreed to a care review.
10. The Council told Ms B could make contact anytime so it could complete a face-to-face review of her care needs. It said it needed to ensure she had appropriate support in place.
11. We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating. The Council and the agency asked
    Ms B to provide completed timesheets so her personal assistant can be paid for any hours they have provided care and support. The agency said it had not received the timesheets. It is also open to Ms B to allow the Council to review her care needs to ensure she has suitable care and support in place.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman