The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about future care costs. That is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mrs X complained the Council failed to confirm how it would consider her financial assets if she required care in the future.
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, 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 contacted the Council asking it about how it would consider her financial assets if she needed care in the future. She said she wanted clarification after she received independent legal advice.
The Council said if Mrs X needed adult social care, it would complete a financial assessment to assess their ability to financially contribute towards their care. It said it could not provide assurances about how it would deal with her financial assets in the future.
We will not investigate this complaint. That is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council has responded to Mrs X’s request for information. There is also no evidence she has been caused a significant injustice.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman