Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s inclusion of notional capital in a financial assessment. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s financial assessment for his father. He says the Council included money in a joint account which belongs only to his mother.
2. Mr X is seeking a reassessment which does not include what he says is his mother’s money.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council assessed Mr X’s care needs in February 2025. It was decided he was in need of care support, and he moved into a nursing home in March 2025 as a self-funder.
7. In May 2025, Mr X contacted the Council as he thought his father may be approaching the funding threshold for the Council to take over the cost of his care.
8. The Council carried out a financial assessment which showed that about £90,000 had been moved out of Mr X’s parents’ joint account into his mother’s sole account in March 2025.
9. The Council included half of this sum in its assessment and provided its decision about funding in July 2025.
10. Mr X complained the money the Council had included belonged solely to his mother so should not form part of his father’s financial assessment.
11. The Council explained it had considered the information provided by Mr X, and all the information provided for the financial assessment. It explained it considered the money to be his father’s notional capital.
12. The Council explained it had considered the fact that approximately £90,000 had been inherited by Mr X’s mother in 2019. His father had inherited about £86,000 from the same estate. Both sums were deposited in Mr X’s parents’ joint account.
13. The Council explained that given the time that has since passed and the number of transactions from the joint account in the meantime, it was not possible to say how much of each inheritance had been spent and how much of what was in the account was from which.
14. The only evidence the money was not to be jointly owned is that a sum was inherited by Mr X’s mother. This was balanced against the fact Mr X’s father inherited a similar sum and both were deposited in the joint account.
15. The Council was not provided with evidence that persuaded it the sums were not shared.
16. Based on this, and the timing of the money being moved from the joint account the Council has decided the money was moved to reduce the funds which would be included in the financial assessment.
17. This is a decision the Council is entitled to make.

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Final decision

We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman