Summary

A woman complains about the way the council has administered her direct payments and that it did not follow its complaints procedure when investigating her complaint. She says this has caused her significant avoidable distress, and meant she has not had as much care as she should have had.

The complaint

A woman complains about the way the council has administered her direct payments and that it did not follow its complaints procedure when investigating her complaint. She says this has caused her significant avoidable distress, and meant she has not had as much care as she should have had.

Finding

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice. 

Recommendations 

To remedy the injustice identified, the Council should:

• apologise to the woman;
• confirm immediately that it will not seek to reclaim any unpaid contributions from her, and write off any debts it is currently seeking to recover;
• arrange for an independent social worker to carry out a new care needs assessment and prepare a new support plan, without delay;
• set up a clear working agreement for future reviews and monitoring;
• reconsider the woman's disability related expenditure and provide a clear explanation of why it does not consider some costs arise from the disability;
• pay the woman
  • £5,000 to acknowledge the impact on her of being without adequate care and support for over two years; and
  • £2,000 to acknowledge the avoidable distress and frustration the council's faults have caused her.

The council has accepted our recommendations. It should confirm it has taken the action within three months of the date of the report.

Ombudsman satisfied with council's response: 28 April 2016

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