Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to pay a care provider for its services. The courts are best placed to consider the matter.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council has withheld payments to her organisation for care it provided and reneged on an agreed uplift amount. She says the Council has failed to investigate her complaints properly and was biased towards its worker’s description of events. She says these events have caused the company a significant financial detriment. She wants the Council to pay the company for the care it has provided, accounting for inflation. She also wants it to apologise and make service improvements.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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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.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X is a director of a care provider in the Council’s area. She says the fees the Council paid to the provider for an individual have not reflected the actual cost of providing their care for several years, but the Council has failed to provide an uplift to increase the amount it paid for the person’s services. The Council told Mrs X it does not apply uplifts automatically, and it is the responsibility of individual care providers to apply for an increase when their costs rise.
6. During discussions, the Council offered an uplift it saw appropriate, however
   Mrs X says the amount did not reflect the actual cost to the care provider of meeting the person’s needs. The care provider therefore did not accept the Council’s offer. The care provider and the Council continued to discuss the matter and could not reach agreement. Mrs X complained to us.
7. Mrs X has not told us exactly how much the care provider seeks from the Council to recover its costs. However, from the information I have seen it is clear the amount is a significant one that would be over and above what the Ombudsman could achieve. Where we recommend councils make payments, it is often a modest amount whose value is intended to be largely symbolic, rather than purely financial. It is not our role to assess economic losses or award compensation, and we direct people to the courts where that is their primary goal.
8. Mrs X’s complaint is best considered a claim for costs due to the Council’s alleged failure to pay for services provided. It is open to the care provider to seek legal advice to pursue a claim in the courts.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is a matter that would be best dealt with by the courts.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman