Stoke-on-Trent City Council (23 005 841)
Category : Adult care services > Charging
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 28 Sep 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about respite care provided in 2021 and 2022. Part of it is not valid for us to consider and we could not achieve a different outcome for the other part.
The complaint
- Ms X says for Ms Y the Council failed to provide suitable respite care for Ms Y for two short periods in 2021 and 2022, and Ms Y and her family want the Council to waive the financial contribution it expects Ms Y to pay for the care.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant, including the Council’s response to recent complaints.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We have already investigated a complaint about the care provided in 2021 and we found no fault by the Council or the Council provider. A repeated complaint about the same matters in not a valid one we need to consider.
- The Council has already considered and response to a complaint about the care provided in 2022 and has offered to waive half the fees for both respite stays. Given the nature of the disputed matters in the complaint, which do not turn on tangible evidence, it is unlikely we could resolve them by investigating. This means we could not achieve anything more than the Council has already offered.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint for Ms Y because part of it is not valid for us to consider and we could not achieve a different outcome for the other part.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman