Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about charges for adult social care. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains about her care costs for adult social care. In particular she complains that the charges increased after the Council made her exempt from council tax. Mrs X’s son, Mr X, says the Council has treated them inhumanly and has bullied them.

Back to top

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 an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

Charging policy

4. The Council takes into account the amount of council tax that someone pays when working out how much they must pay for their social care.
5. The social care contract says the person will be charged for a visit if they cancel without giving at least 24 hours notice.

What happened

6. Mrs X has been charged for adult social care since January 2018. The Council waived charges of £397 for care provided before January 2018 as there was a dispute over the care provided.
7. Mrs X was initially assessed as needing to pay £115 a week towards her care. The charge was later increased, and backdated to January 2018, after the social care team found out that Mrs X had been made exempt from paying council tax since December 2017. This meant the Council could no longer disregard the money Mrs X spent on council tax because she was no longer paying council tax. Mr X says the council tax team said it would tell the social care team. The Council denies this and said that the social care letters say people must report all changes in their circumstances.
8. Mrs X cancelled 21 visits, at short notice, during 2018. Mr X says it is wrong that the Council has charged her for the cancelled visits. The Council has explained that Mrs X was told she would be charged, in accordance with the contract. However, the Council decided to waive £1296 of the costs and invited Mrs X and Mr X to set up a payment plan for the arrears. Mrs X currently owes £11,612 in care costs.

Assessment

9. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. I have checked the charging policy and it is correct that the Council takes council tax into account when working out how much someone must pay for the care. It is also correct that once Mrs X stopped paying council tax this amount could no longer be disregarded and the care costs increased. I appreciate this means Mrs X is paying more for the care but she is also no longer paying council tax. In addition, the Council has explained why people are charged for visits which are cancelled at short notice. Mr X may disagree but this does not mean the Council has done anything wrong.
10. Mr X says the Council has treated them like criminals. However, the Council has written off a significant amount of the charges, offered a payment plan, met Mr X, and sent detailed letters trying to address his concerns. I have not seen anything to suggest the Council has treated them badly.

Back to top

Final decision

11. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman