Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult social care client contributions and the Council's handling of the matter. This is because the Council has already accepted fault and provided a suitable remedy. Further investigation is unlikely to achieve a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms Y complains on behalf of Mr X about a series of administrative and financial errors by the Council. She says it took nearly a year to resolve the matter, causing significant distress and uncertainty, because the issues related to Mr X's residential educational placement. Ms Y wants the Council to review how it manages adult social care client contributions and improve communication between its departments.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms Y, Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council carried out an internal investigation involving the departments responsible for the issues raised. It accepted fault for administrative errors, lost correspondence, poor communication and delays resolving the matter.
6. The Council reassessed Mr X's contribution liability and applied the correct Universal Credit rate. This resulted in a credit being applied to his account. The Council also accepted Mr X should not have been charged client contributions in relation to his college attendance. It said it would reimburse any payments made directly to the college if evidence of payment was provided.
7. After applying the credit, a balance remained outstanding on Mr X's account. To recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its faults, the Council waived the remaining balance in full. This reduced Mr X's account balance to zero.
8. The Council accepted fault and provided a proportionate remedy by apologising to both Ms Y and Mr X, correcting Mr X's account and waiving the outstanding balance. Its investigation considered the actions of the departments involved and identified the service failures. In these circumstances, further investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to add to the Council's investigation or achieve anything more for Mr X.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because further investigation is unlikely to add to the Council's response or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman