Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the complainant’s daughter’s financial contributions to her social care costs. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs B, complained about the financial contributions her daughter pays for her day care service after she reduced the number of days she uses the service.

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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
• 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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. Mrs B has had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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My assessment

6. Mrs B’s daughter, Miss C, receives a bill for her assessed contribution to the cost of the day care service she currently uses for three days a week. Mrs B told us at the last review the Council assessed her daughter’s assessed contribution to be £51 per week. Miss C had previously been using the day care service for five days a week. So Mrs B had expected her daughter’s bill to reduce when she reduced her attendance at the service to three days a week. But the amount the Council charged remained the same. Mrs B told us she knows of other individuals paying the same amount as Miss C but they attend the day care service on five days each week.
7. Where a council has decided to charge for a social care service, it must follow the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 and have regard to the Care Act statutory guidance. It must carry out a financial assessment to decide what a person can afford to pay. It must then give the person a written record of the completed assessment.
8. In this case Miss C’s maximum assessed financial contribution is £51 per week. That means if the cost of the social care she receives reduces but remains above £51 a week, her assessed contribution will remain the same. It will only reduce if the cost of the service reduces below £51. If the costs of her social care increase, Miss C would still need to pay her maximum assessed contribution.
9. In this case there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council has dealt with Miss C’s social care charges.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman