The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint the Council stopped her package of care. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made that decision to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision to stop her package of care. She said she needed help with personal care, laundry, meal preparation and shopping. She said the Council’s decision to stop her support had caused her financial hardship. She wants the Council to reinstate her care.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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) 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X previously received a direct payment to meet her care needs. The Council stopped that direct payment at the end of 2024. It put in place its reablement service to provide support to Mrs X, whilst a social worker completed a review of her care needs.
That review used information from previous care needs assessments, comments from Mrs X, feedback from the reablement service, observations from professionals entering the property, and information from Mrs X’s GP. It said Mrs X was independent with her personal care, noted that food was available in the property, that reablement carers entering the property observed home cooked meals and that the house was clean and tidy. It made appropriate referrals where other support was needed, however, reached the view that Mrs X did not have eligible care needs.
Although Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s decision we will not investigate. The Council has made its decision based on all available evidence. It has set out why it does not consider her to have eligible care needs. As there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council reached its decision, we cannot question the outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman