Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council's decision to refuse her request to be a paid carer for her relative, through direct payments. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has refused her request to be paid as a carer for her relative, through direct payments. She says her relative’s care needs mean she is unable to work and the Council’s decision is causing her distress and financial hardship. She wants the Council to agree to her request.

Back to top

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.

(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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

6. 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.
7. The Care and Support Direct Payment Regulations (2014) set out the legal framework for direct payments. The regulations state direct payments must not be used to pay a person’s relative who lives in the same household to meet their care needs, unless the council considers it necessary to do so.
8. Ms X’s relative, Y, lives with her in her home and receives direct payments to meet their care and support needs. Ms X asked the Council to agree to her becoming a paid carer for Y, through Y’s direct payments. The Council decided that as Ms X was a relative of Y and lived in the same household, and it did not consider it necessary to meet Y’s needs, it could not agree to her request.
9. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council appropriately considered her request but decided it was not in line with the regulations and so could not agree to it. We cannot question a council’s decision unless there is evidence of fault in the way the decision was reached. In this case, the Council’s decision appears in line with the regulations and so an investigation is unlikely to reach a finding of fault.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman