Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (21 012 568)
Category : Adult care services > Charging
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 10 Jan 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to disregard compensation Mrs X received when carrying out a financial assessment for her care contributions. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault with the actions of the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains on behalf of his client, Mrs Y who is a resident in a care home.
Mr X says Mrs Y received compensation equivalent to a refund of care fees from the NHS because she should not have had to pay for her care for a period of time when she was entitled to healthcare funding. Mr X complains the Council has refused to disregard the money Mrs Y has received when calculating her contributions to her care costs.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant’s representative.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The purpose of the compensation the NHS paid to Mrs X was to refund care fees she should not have had to pay because she was entitled to healthcare funding. This effectively puts Mrs X back in the position she would have been in had she received healthcare funding when she was entitled to it.
- It is unlikely we would find fault with the Council’s decision to decline to disregard this money as part of a financial assessment as it is money Mrs X would have had, and likely retained if healthcare funding had been put in place at the appropriate time. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault with the actions of the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman