The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to discuss the cost implications of a care home placement. This is because the fault accepts have not caused any significant injustice to Mrs X or her mother.
The complaint
Mrs X complains the Council failed to discuss the cost implications with her for her mother’s placement at a care home. She says neither she, nor her mother, agreed to fund the cost of the placement.
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 an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (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 mother, Mrs A, went into a care home in November 2021. The Council completed a care assessment for Mrs A three days after she entered the placement. The assessment found Mrs A had no eligible care needs. Therefore, it did not complete a financial assessment.
The Council has accepted it failed to formalise this care assessment. While the Council did tell Mrs X it had assessed Mrs A has having no eligible needs and so it would not fund the placement, it should have issued a formal assessment to Mrs X so that she could review the assessment and challenge if necessary.
It is clear Mrs X disputes the Council’s assessment that her mother had no eligible care needs. Therefore, the accepted fault has caused some uncertainty regarding whether Mrs A had any eligible care needs.
However, even if the Council did assess Mrs A has having eligible care needs, this would not change the position she is in. This is because, as Mrs A had capital over the upper capital limit of £23,250, she would have been responsible for the full cost of her care home placement. People who have over the upper capital limit must pay the full cost of their residential care home fees. This would be the case until her capital fell below the upper capital limit.
Mrs A having over the upper capital limit is not disputed by Mrs X as she confirmed her mother had over £23,250 in assets on the day she entered the care home.
We acknowledge the fault in the Council failing to complete a formal care assessment will have caused Mrs X some confusion and frustration. However, we do not consider this to be significant enough to justify an investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the faults accepted has not caused any significant injustice to Mrs X or her mother.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman