Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms A’s complaint about the time it has taken the Council to decide she should be paid a paid carer for her brother, Mr B as there are exceptional circumstances. This is because the Council has agreed Ms A and her partner can be Mr B’s paid personal assistants and backdated payments to October 2018. There is no unremedied injustice for the Ombudsman to consider.

The complaint

1. Ms A says the Council took over funding for her brother, Mr B’s care and became his court appointed deputy for finances but failed to consider paying her and her partner for providing his care. Ms A says there are exceptional circumstances in this case and it took the council nine months to agree to provide direct payments for them to deliver his care.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended

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How I considered this complaint

3. I discussed the concerns with Ms A and considered the information and documentation she and the Council provided.

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What I found

4. Ms A and her partner are full time carers for Mr B. Initially Mr B funded his own care and paid Ms A and her partner to provide his care. Mr B’s mother managed his finances for him until sadly she passed away in November 2017. The Council became Mr B’s court appointed deputy in October 2018, and although advised Ms A that it was likely the arrangement would continue, he did not have an authorised person to manage his direct payments account. The Council explained it could not do this because it was Mr B’s appointed deputy and would be a conflict of interest.
5. The Council says following a meeting in July a family member living outside of the family has been identified to manage the payment account.
6. Ms A says the Council has agreed for her and her partner to be paid as Mr B’s personal assistants and agreed to backdate payments to October 2018 when it took over as his deputy.
7. Ms A says she has had nine months of upset where it was not clear what was happening or whether she would continue to be paid to care for Mr B.
8. The Council says it took time trying to address who the ‘employer’ of the personal assistants and needed to ensure all legal requirements are met. It has agreed there are exceptional circumstances in this case and has backdated payments into the managed account so Mr B’s personal assistants can be paid.
9. The Ombudsman could achieve no more than this even if he investigated and is satisfied any injustice to Ms A is now remedied.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms A’s complaint. This is because the Council has agreed Ms A and her partner can be Mr B’s paid personal assistants and backdated payments to October 2018. There is no unremedied injustice for the Ombudsman to consider.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman