The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about charges for social care and related matters. This is because we are unable to achieve the outcome requested and cancel the charges complained about. And it would be reasonable to ask the Council for a review if the complainant continues to remain dissatisfied.
The complaint
Ms Y complains, on behalf of her mother Mrs X, about receiving the Council’s bills for social care. She raises other issues such as the care not being provided, nor their complaints dealt with promptly. She says these matters have adversely affected her mother’s mental and physical health.
Ms Y would like the charges cancelled and her complaint matters resolved.
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) We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants; it would be reasonable for the person to ask for an organisation review or appeal.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and spoke to her.
I considered the Council’s response and our Assessment Code.
My assessment
We checked with the Council for any responses to Ms Y’s complaints. This is because we usually expect complainants to exhaust the Council’s complaints procedures.
The Council responded by saying its finance team received an email from Ms Y. It admits it failed to respond to Ms Y. It says the care issues may have been raised with the Care Team. It considers Ms Y’s concerns at this stage would have been dealt with as a query rather than a complaint.
However, it says it will now deal with all her concerns including informing her how to ask for a review of the financial assessment. And it says the care issues will be sent to the separate care management team to respond to.
We will not investigate. This is because we cannot achieve the outcomes requested and it is reasonable to expect Ms Y to request a formal review if she remains dissatisfied.
Further, the Council is better placed to address Ms Y’s concerns directly for the following reasons: The Council is the direct service provider and it can provide an instant remedy.
The Council is offering a further review opportunity if Ms Y remains dissatisfied with the recent actions taken on the charging decisions.
Notwithstanding the fact the social care charging team should have responded to Ms Y earlier, Ms Y is raising serious/complex complaints about care failings spanning different departments. The Council should provide a comprehensive response before any Ombudsman intervention.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms Y’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcomes requested. And it would be reasonable to expect Ms Y to ask the Council for a formal review if she continues to remain dissatisfied with the charging decisions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman