Mrs S explained that, in September 2022, she received paperwork from the Council that stated her mother was in receipt of Direct Payments, which was incorrect. Mrs S said that Direct Payments had been discussed in 2019, but not actioned. She therefore repeatedly asked whether they should have been, but the Council had not directly addressed her query. When the Council referred Mrs S to the Complaints Department in January 2024, she was told that it would not investigate her complaint because it was out of time.
The Ombudsman found that Mrs S had questioned the statement promptly when she became aware of it, and that the Council had acknowledged and apologised for communication issues in 2023. It had also said that there appeared to have been “confusion or information possibly misunderstood” but had not explored where that confusion might have arisen or what impact it might have had. The Ombudsman concluded that it was not reasonable for the Council to simply say that the paperwork was wrong but the events to which the paperwork referred were out of time.
The Council agreed to apologise to Ms S for failing to fully explore and address her concern. It also agreed to investigate and clarify precisely where the “confusion or information possibly misunderstood” came about, how this caused the form to contain inaccurate information, and whether the outcome of that investigation indicates that there was maladministration in 2019. Finally, it agreed to take appropriate action if any further maladministration was identified. It agreed to take these actions within 6 weeks of the Ombudsman’s decision.