Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council charging his daughter, Ms C for backdated care. This is because it is unlikely he would find enough evidence of fault with the Council’s actions to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr B says the Council should not charge his daughter, Ms C the increased backdated charges for care as he was not given any notice of the increase and Ms B does not have enough money to pay £811 the Council says she owes.

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 or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information and documentation Mr B provided. I sent Mr B a copy of my draft decision for comment.

Back to top

What I found

4. Mr B complains he received a backdated invoice for £811 for Ms C’s care.
5. The Council says Ms C’s Employment and Support Allowance increased in February 2019. The Council says it wrote to Ms C in March 2019 and March 2020 explaining the breakdown of her charges and the letters clearly state that ‘you must tell us if your financial circumstances have changed’. The Council says it was not made aware of Ms C’s increase in benefits, so Ms C’s care charges have been assessed from when the increase in benefit was received. Consequently, it provided a backdated financial assessment resulting in an increase in the cost of Ms C’s contribution towards her care charges. The Council has acknowledged Ms C may not be able to afford to pay the full amount of the backdated charges and invited Mr B to contact it to discuss and arrange an agreeable instalment plan.
6. The Council has explained the backdated invoice was because it was unaware of Ms C’s increase in benefits which increased her contribution towards her care costs. It has offered to discuss an instalment plan to recover the debt so Ms C does not have to pay the full amount all at once. The Ombudsman could not say this is fault.

Back to top

Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely he would find enough evidence of fault with the Council’s actions to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman