The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about delays and poor communication with the Council regarding her mother’s, Mrs C’s, care charges. This is because we could not add to the Council’s response or make a different finding even if we investigated.
The complaint
Ms B complained about the lengthy delays and poor communication she experienced from the Council between November 2020 and September 2021 when she needed to contact it regarding charges for her mother’s, Mrs C’s care. Ms B says it was not clear what Mrs C was being charged for and invoices contained different amounts. Ms B complained in November 2020 and chased up her complaint several times. Ms B says she eventually received a response in September 2021 which did not explain her concerns and a further response later in the month which went some way to explain what had happened. Ms B is concerned others who do not have relatives to act on their behalf may be suffering a similar experience.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council apologised for the delays and poor communication Ms B received regarding her complaints. It acknowledged Ms B had contacted it on several occasions either wanting to provide information or to chase up a response to her complaint but did not receive an appropriate response. It acknowledged this was exacerbated by a number of mistakes in Mrs C’s financial calculations. The Council explained this was during the Covid-19 pandemic and staff were experiencing high volumes of work. It says it will continue to improve and take forward improvements from Ms B’s complaint to both its Adult Social Care and Finance Operations teams. The Council acknowledged the unnecessary stress and time Ms B incurred and offered to refund the administrative charges Mrs C had paid.
We could achieve no more than this even if we investigated. The Council has acknowledged the faults, apologised and explained what it will do to minimise the risk of similar occurrences. Ms B has confirmed there are no outstanding monies owed to Mrs C and the Council agreed to refund the administrative charges Mrs C paid. We are satisfied this remedies the injustice caused to Ms B and Mrs C.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because we are satisfied the injustice caused by the fault has been remedied.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman