Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council asking Ms X to repay money which was sent to her in error. This is because the Council has accepted its error and apologised to Ms X during its own complaint process.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council continued to make weekly payments to her once a foster care placement had come to an end, despite being aware the child was no longer with her.
2. Ms X says the Council has asked her to re-pay the money sent to her in error, and this has caused distress, anxiety and financial pressure. She would like the Council allow her to keep the erroneous payments.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Ms X was a foster carer for a period in 2025. The placement ended in August 2025, and the Council was aware of this.
7. The weekly payments which had been in place for the foster care placement continued until September 2025.
8. Once the Council realised its mistake, it sent Ms X a bill to recover the money it had sent to her in error.
9. Ms X argued the Council were to blame for the payments, so it should not expect her to repay the sums.
10. The Council accepted it made a mistake, and apologised for this. However, it explained that as this is public money, Ms X is still required to pay it back.
11. It is accepted the payments were made in error. The Council has apologised for this, and this is a proportionate remedy.
12. We will not investigate a complaint where we are unlikely to achieve anything further by doing so.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the Council has already provided Ms X with a proportionate remedy by apologising to her, and we are not likely to achieve anything more than this by investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman