The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: The Council acknowledged it failed to properly explain the financial assessment process to Ms X. It remedied the situation by completing a new financial assessment and cancelling an outstanding invoice in full. As there is no outstanding injustice to Ms X the complaint will be closed.
The complaint
Ms X complains the Council failed to properly explain the financial assessment process and consequently she received an unexpected invoice.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended) If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I have considered the complaint and supporting information submitted by Ms X. I also considered information submitted by the Council in response to initial enquires made by this office.
What I found
Ms X received support commissioned by social services. Prior to the support commencing a social worker informed her she would not need to pay for the support. She later received an invoice for £81.20. This occurred because Ms X had not provided additional information required by the finance team. Ms X was not aware she needed to provide such information.
On receipt of the invoice Ms X contacted the social worker, but the invoice was not cancelled immediately.
Ms X submitted a formal complaint to the Council on 24 November 2021 saying a social worker had failed to properly explain the financial assessment process.
The Council’s response dated 24 January 2022 “…accepts that she may of not explained in full to you that if you did not respond to the finances team emails or phone calls that this may result in you being charged the full amount for your care. She also advised that she did not clearly explain that any invoices you receive would be the monthly charge. She accepts this could have been distressing for you and takes this on board for future learning”.
The Council completed another financial assessment and recalculated Ms X’s financial contribution. This concluded she did not have contribute towards her care and the outstanding invoice of £81.20 was cancelled.
Ms X acknowledges the matter is resolved but she is seeking compensation for the time and trouble she has been put to pursuing the matter. I do not consider the injustice to be enough to warrant further involvement by the office.
As such the investigation will be closed.
Final decision
The Council acknowledged it failed to properly explain the financial assessment process to Ms X. It remedied the situation by completing a new financial assessment and cancelling an outstanding invoice in full. As there is no outstanding injustice to Ms X the complaint will be closed.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman