Summary: The investigation into this complaint will discontinued. The Council acknowledged it wrongly instructed Mr X to increase the hourly rate paid to his personal assistant. It apologised and provided adequate information and support to enable Mr X to deal with any contractual matter arising from the error. The Ombudsman could achieve no more. The Ombudsman has no power to instruct the Council on the hourly rates paid to personal assistants.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council wrongly told him to increase the hourly rate to his personal assistant.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

3. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the complaint and discussed it with Mr X. I have also considered the Council’s response to the complaint. Both Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft of this document.

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What I found

5. Mr X has mental health issues. He receives a direct payment from the Council to purchase services. He has employed the same personal assistant for seven years.
6. In April 2020, the Council wrote to Mr X to says he should increase the hourly rate he paid his personal assistant from £8.72 to £10.64. Mr X complied with the request.
7. In July 2020, the Council wrote to Mr X again to say there had been an error in its system which caused it to wrongly instruct direct payment recipients to increase the hourly rate paid to personal assistants. The Council apologised and said the hourly rate needed to be reduced to £8.72. The Council provided Mr X with a flow chart to explain the steps he needed to take and offered personal support from a Trust.
8. Mr X was unhappy with the Council’s instruction and said he believed the Council should continue with the higher hourly rates. He said he was worried about his responsibility as an employer, and that his employee may take legal action against him if he reduced the hourly rate.
9. The Council reassured Mr X his employee would not have grounds to pursue action for breach of employment. It reiterated its offer of support from a Trust, and that the Trust would support him to deal with any such issues.
10. Mr X made a formal complaint to the Council, saying the Council should continue to pay the increased hourly rate. The Council maintained its position.
11. Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman.
12. I have discussed the matter with Mr X and explained it is not the Ombudsman’s role to set the hourly rate for personal assistants, that is the Council’s role. Therefore, we could not achieve the outcome he is seeking. The Council acknowledged its error, apologised, and provided information and support to enable him to deal with the contractual matters arising from the error. The Ombudsman could achieve no more.
13. Mr X accepts this and says his employee is now accepting of the reduced hourly rate and does not intend to take action against him.
14. On this basis, the complaint will be discontinued.

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Final decision

15. The Council acknowledged it wrongly instructed Mr X to increase the hourly rate paid to his personal assistant. It apologised and provided adequate information and support to enable Mr X to deal with any contractual matters arising from the error.
16. The Ombudsman cannot achieve more.
17. The Ombudsman has no power to instruct the Council on the hourly rates paid to personal assistants.
18. It is on this basis; the complaint will be closed.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman