Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the council decide liability for care costs. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the way the Council calculated his mother, Ms Y’s, liability for care costs. The Council used the full value of Ms Y’s property, even though she had transferred half of the property to Mr X. He says this caused distress and wants the Council to reassess liability.

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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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating

(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 Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council considered legislation, medical evidence, information from Ms Y’s family and explained why the full property value was used when calculating Ms Y’s assets.
6. The Ombudsman cannot question whether a Council’s decision is right or wrong simply because a complainant disagrees with it, unless there is evidence of fault. Here, the Council took Mr X’s individual circumstances into account and made a decision that was in line with its process and legislation. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision.

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Final decision

7. 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