Summary: The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint about an invoice the Council sent for the cost of the complainant’s care. This is because the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Miss X has complained on behalf of her mother, Mrs Y, about an invoice she has received from the Council for care fees.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Miss X to comment on a draft of this decision and I have considered the comments received in response.

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What I found

4. The charging rules for residential care are set out in the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of resources) Regulations 2014 and the Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014. When the Council arranges a care home placement, it must follow these rules when deciding how much a person has to pay towards the cost of their residential care. The rules say that people with over the upper capital limit (£23,250) are expected to pay for the full cost of their residential care home fees.

What happened

5. In 2016, Mrs Y moved into a care home after being discharged from hospital. Mrs Y pays for the full cost of her care as she has capital over the upper limit of £23,250. In March 2018, Mrs Y moved to a new care home. Miss X was unhappy with the new home and said it could not meet her mother’s needs. Mrs Y moved to an alternative placement in May 2018.
6. In May 2019, Miss X received an invoice from the Council. Miss X complained that she did not know what the invoice was for. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint and said the invoice related to Mrs Y’s care charges while she was in the second care home between 6 April and 1 May 2018.

Assessment

7. I will not start an investigation into this complaint as the injustice is not significant enough to justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.
8. The Council has accepted that the letter sent to Miss X in May 2019 did not confirm which period of care the outstanding debt related to. It has apologised for this. However, while the letter did not include dates for the care charges, it did include the details of the invoice the outstanding debt related to. Miss X could have also contacted the Council if she was unsure what the charge was for. Therefore, I cannot say she has been caused any significant injustice by the Council’s actions.
9. I understand Miss X says her mother should not have to pay for the care charges as the home could not meet her needs. But this matter has already been considered in a previous complaint Miss X made to the Ombudsman and therefore I will not consider this matter again as part of this complaint.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice is not enough to justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman