Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions regarding Miss X’s late father when he was in care. This is because the Council has already provided a remedy for the injustice caused to the family which goes beyond what we would usually recommend. Therefore there is nothing further we can achieve from an investigation of this complaint.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to involve her family when it made decisions about her late father’s care. Miss X says the Council has breached the family’s human rights and they have been threatened with court proceedings due to unpaid care charges.
2. Miss X says the whole incident has caused her and her family significant mental anguish and the Council has caused them unnecessary time and trouble.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council has acknowledged some fault in the way it dealt with Miss X’s late father. However, Miss X believes there are other failings which should be addressed.
7. The Council has already paid Miss X and her late father £500 each to acknowledge the distress caused to them. The Council has also agreed to cover her late father’s care fees and reimburse care fees already paid by the family plus interest.
8. In her complaint Miss X says she and her family are seeking compensation. We do not award compensation in the way a court might. We will, however, recommend councils make symbolic payments to acknowledge the impact fault has had on people complaining to us and, if necessary reimburse any costs they should not have had to pay.
9. Miss X’s late father was a self funder. This means he was required to pay for the cost of his care. Therefore the Council has provided a significant remedy in this case by agreeing to cover Miss X’s late father’s care fees on top of other financial remedies it has already paid to the family. This is above what we would usually recommend and goes further than action recommended in our Guidance on Remedies. Therefore, there is nothing further we could achieve from investigating this complaint even if we were to find more evidence of fault.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is nothing further we could achieve from investigating this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman