Summary: There is no significant fault by the Council. It provided monthly invoices for care, apart from an eight month period where it told the care user there would be a delay in billing because of technical issues. There was no delay in billing the care users estate after her death and the Council sent a final reminder notice when the debt remained unpaid.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms B, complains there was unreasonable delay in billing her grandmother’s estate for care costs.

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What I have investigated

2. I can investigate the Council’s invoices and billing sent to Ms B in the last 12 months. However, some of debts arose years ago, so it may not be possible for me to find out what happened now, depending on what evidence is available.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I read the papers put in by Ms B.
6. I considered the Council's comments about the complaint and any supporting documents it provided.
7. I gave the Council and Ms B the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

Key facts

8. Ms B’s grandmother received care at her home. Due to illness, she went into hospital in July 2017, moved to a care home on 4 November 2017 and died on 16 February 2018. The Council’s financial assessment found Ms B’s grandmother needed to contribute towards her care.
9. The Council has said there was one delay issuing invoices from 1 April to 5 November 2015. The Council says it wrote to all involved in June 2015 to explain the problem so people could put the money aside.
10. Other than this period in 2015, Ms B’s grandmother received regular invoices.
11. The Council has confirmed that it did not charge Ms B’s grandmother for a period when she was in hospital from July until November 2017.
12. The Council has said it sent one invoice to the wrong address (Ms B’s grandmothers son) on 2 January 2018, but this was corrected on 29 January 2018 when the Council sent the invoice to Ms B.
13. The Council said it issued the final invoice on 27 March 2018, with a statement of payments made on 30 April 2018 and a final reminder on October 2018.

My analysis

14. I can find no evidence there was unreasonable delay in the Council billing Ms B’s grandmother’s estate. Ms B’s grandmother was sent monthly bills for her care, apart from a period of 8 months when she was informed that billing would stop so she could put aside the money for her care.
15. The Council did mistakenly send one invoice to a wrong address in January 2018, but this mistake was corrected the same month and so I do not consider it caused any injustice to Ms B as she had correct invoices before and after this date.
16. The Council sent the estate an invoice for outstanding costs a month after Ms B’s death and a final reminder 6 months later as the invoice was not paid. I find no evidence of fault by the Council. I can find no evidence that Ms B was charged for periods when she was in hospital.

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Final decision

17. I have completed my investigation. I have found no evidence of significant fault in the parts of the complaint I have investigated and this complaint is not upheld.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

18. I cannot investigate the complaints about inadequate care to Ms B’s grandmother. This is because I do think that it was reasonable for Ms B’s grandmother (or Ms B, who had contacted the Council on her behalf) to make a formal complaint to the Council and the Ombudsman about the missed visits/inadequate care when it happened, from 2014 to 2017.
19. Ms B says she and her grandmother tried to complain on numerous occasions, but their correspondence went unanswered. Ms B says her health and her grandmother’s age meant it was not reasonable for her to make a formal complaint so her grandmother withheld payment. While I sympathise with the situation, I do not consider making a formal complaint and then a complaint to the Ombudsman is any more onerous that the repeated emails and phone calls they made during this period. Our service is free and widely publicised, and we are able to make reasonable adjustments to help people to use our service when the problem first occurs. If they had made a formal complaint to the Council, they would have been informed of the Ombudsman’s service. So, I see no reason to exercise discretion to investigate matters relating to Ms B’s grandmother care as she could have formally complained at the time, when there would have been greater availability of information.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman