Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about errors in the Council’s administration of her relative, Y’s, direct payments. This is because we cannot achieve the outcome Ms X wants.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained that errors in the Council’s administration of her daughter, Y’s, direct payments mean Y has missed out on opportunities and activities between 2022 and 2023. Ms X says that although the Council has now corrected its mistakes and Y has received the missing funds in a shortfall payment, it is refusing to allow the funds to be used for a holiday. She says that given the Council has accepted its errors and Y has missed out on opportunities, it should use its discretion to allow the money to be used for a holiday for Y.

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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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. A council has a duty to provide a care and support plan where it identifies an adult has eligible care and support needs. The care and support plan should set out what the person’s needs are and the care and support required to meet those needs.
7. Direct payments are payments made to individuals to meet some or all of their eligible care and support needs. They enable people to arrange their own care and support to meet their needs.
8. Ms X’s daughter, Y, is an adult with care and support needs. Y has had a care and support plan since March 2022. The support plan sets out what Y’s needs are, the support needed to meet her needs and the allocated budget. The Council agreed for Y to receive direct payments from March 2022. Ms X manages the direct payments on Y’s behalf and arranges care and support to meet Y’s needs.
9. In 2023, Ms X complained the Council had not paid all the agreed funds into Y’s direct payment account.
10. In its complaint response to Ms X in July 2023, the Council accepted it had underpaid Y’s direct payments. It said it had now corrected its errors and paid all the missing funds into Y’s direct payment account. It also accepted Ms X had been inconvenienced by having to chase the Council and the Council had taken too long to rectify the problem. It apologised to Ms X for the delay and for the inconvenience caused.
11. Ms X asked the Council to allow the shortfall funds to be used to pay for a holiday for Y. The Council considered her request but said it could not agree to the shortfall funds being used in this way.
12. The Council said Y needed to use the money to help her meet the outcomes listed in her care and support plan. It suggested the funds could pay for additional activities or be used to increase the hours paid to a personal assistant to enable her to achieve her goals.
13. We will not investigate this complaint. Although I accept Y may have missed out on some activities and opportunities, the Council has now corrected its errors and paid all the missing funds into Y’s direct payment account. This will enable Y to access additional opportunities to remedy the injustice caused by those she may have missed.
14. Direct payments should be used to meet a person’s needs as set out in a care and support plan. Any decision to allow this money to be used to fund a holiday would be at the Council’s discretion. The Council has appropriately considered Ms X’s request but decided it cannot agree to this. As there is no evidence of fault in how it has considered Ms X’s request, we cannot question the decision reached. We could not direct the Council to allow Ms X to use the shortfall funding towards a holiday for Y.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome she wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman