Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about charges for the complainant’s mother’s care service. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and not enough justification for us to call on the Council to provide the remedy Miss B is seeking.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss B, complained that there was fault by the Council in the way it dealt with charges for her mother’s care service.

Back to top

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))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. Miss B has had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

Back to top

My assessment

6. Miss B told us the Council authorised and billed her mother for a care package before completion of a financial assessment and her agreement to pay. She said her mother signed a document which she now knows had reference to payment. But Miss B said the document had many pages which her mother did not understand or which were not explained to her. Miss B said her mother did not authorise a payment and she did not fill in a financial assessment form until three months later.
7. Miss B told us an agreed care service is now in place which her family are paying for. But she said they did not know the charges for it before mid-October 2021. Miss B said the Council sent her a copy of its July 2021 letter about charges but it was not received. Miss B said she dealt with the Council’s demand for payment straightaway in October 2021. The Council then provided a financial assessment form for completion.
8. Miss B said the Council’s invoices for the period before completion of the financial assessment and agreement to pay are unfair and wrong. She wants the Council to waive these invoices.
9. The document Miss B’s mother signed in July 2021 was a care and support plan. The council officer who visited her for a review of her social care ticked a box on the care and support plan to confirm she had explained the financial assessment process and provided a leaflet. The officer recorded Miss B’s presence at the meeting.
10. If we investigated this complaint we would not be able to establish exactly what was said at the meeting between the Council’s officer, Miss B and her mother. We would not be able to find out why Mrs B’s mother did not receive the Council’s July 2021 letter about charges. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating in these circumstances.
11. Had Miss B’s mother received the Council’s July 2021 letter, she would have known about the outcome of the financial assessment and its implications. But it seems unlikely she would have refused the social care service. The care and support plan sets out the reasons why she needed a care service. She and her family agreed to continue with a care service after the Council had sent a payment demand in October 2021. So there is not enough justification for us to call on the Council to waive the charges for the care service Miss B’s mother received up to the point of receipt of the Council’s October 2021 letter.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and not enough justification for us to call on the Council to provide the remedy Miss B is seeking.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman