The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about charges for care. This is because there is no evidence of fault and injustice to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X complains the Council has charged for care her father did not receive and that the Council has charged him incorrectly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
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’s father’s (Mr B) care and support needs were met through a care placement. The Council sent Mr B a letter outlining his assessed financial contribution towards the cost of his care was £116 a week.
The Council has provided copies of the invoices it issued. The invoices outline what the charges are for. The Council has explained some of Mr B’s care charges were spread over two invoices. The Council apologised for this as it agreed this was confusing. The Council also accepted it had issued one invoice incorrectly. The Council apologised for this and raised a credit note to remove the charges from Mr B’s account.
The invoices show the Council has charged Mr B the £116 a week he needs to contribute towards the cost of his care. Therefore, there is no evidence of fault here to justify an investigation.
Mrs X has provided some information which suggests she was given different information by the care provider on how much Mr B had been assessed as needing to pay. While I acknowledge this must have been confusing, it remains the case the Council told Mr B his assessed contribution was £116. Therefore, even if we were to investigate and find fault, there is no injustice as Mr X must still pay £116 towards his care.
I note Mrs X says there is no money left in Mr B’s estate to pay for the outstanding care charges. The Council has explained what information she needs to provide it to allow it to consider this. It is open to Mrs X to do this.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault and injustice to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman