Summary: We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about the Council charging her late father, Mr C a contribution towards his care costs. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr C a significant enough injustice to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms B complained she was told her father’s care would be free of charge when he was discharged from hospital to a care home. Ms B says she was shocked to receive an invoice for Mr C’s contribution in November 2020 and says he no longer has enough money to pay for personal items and buy gifts as he wants to. Ms B says she would have challenged the contribution sooner but did not know of it until she received the invoice in November 2020.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. The complainant had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered her comments before making a final decision.

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My assessment

6. Ms B complained she was told Mr C’s care would be fully funded by the Council. The Council says It discussed charging with Ms B on 8 and 15 June and says it provided Mrs B with the case records to demonstrate this.
7. I have not seen any evidence that Ms B was advised Mr C’s care would be free of charge. The Council says it took over funding for Mr C in October 2020 and issued Ms B with notification of his contribution of £179.47 a week towards his care costs on 4 November. Ms B says the first she knew of any charges was when she received an invoice in November for £1410.12, for seven weeks care charges. The Council acknowledged it may have appeared confusing when it advised Ms B she would receive a financial assessment form but says it did not need this as it had Mr C’s financial situation on file. The Council explained Mr C should retain 24.90 a week from his income for his personal expenditure plus an additional £5.75 a week income disregard so he has £30.65 a week to purchase personal items.
8. Ms B says this is not enough to buy personal items and gifts as Mr C would want.
9. Social care charging arrangements for 2020/21 have been set out in a circular issued by the Department of Health. It confirms levels, including capital limits and the Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA) for local authority supported care home residents. Local authorities are required to act under the guidance set out in the circular.

Local Authority Circular LAC (2020/21)

10. Current guidance says the PEA is £24.90. Mr C has an additional £5.75 totalling £30.65 a week. We could not say there is fault with the Council actions to charge Mr C the contribution towards his care costs it has.
11. Ms B says Mr C should be entitled to Continuing Health Care (CHC) funding and is pursuing an application with the NHS. It is not an administrative function of the Council to decide whether a person is eligible for CHC funding, nor can the Council decide not to provide CHC funding. In the absence of evidence from the NHS confirming Mr C was eligible for CHC funding from October 2020, there is no fault with the Council for charging Ms B for care it provides to Mr C.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr C a significant enough injustice to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman