Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council not submitting contracts relating to his late father Mr Y’s care during a court case, not giving him copies of them, and charging Mr Y’s estate for the care fees. We cannot investigate what the Council did or did not submit in evidence because that is something which happened in court. Mr X may complain to the Information Commissioner about the Council not disclosing the contracts to him and there is no good reason for us to investigate. We cannot reinvestigate the Council charging Mr Y’s estate for the care fees because we have already decided that complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X is administrator or executor of his late father Mr Y’s estate. Mr X complains the Council:
1. failed to put contracts relating to Mr Y’s care fees before the county court;
2. has refused to provide him or the Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB) with copies of those contracts;
3. has charged Mr Y’s estate for care fees he did not owe.
2. Mr X says he has found the matter upsetting, has felt harassed, and wants the Council to apologise.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information from Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council took court action to recover the care fee sum it considered was owed by Mr Y’s estate. It sought a formal charge on Mr Y’s former property, which the court granted. We cannot investigate the Council not providing the care contracts in its evidence to the county court. This is because the law says we cannot investigate anything that has happened in court proceedings.
7. If Mr X wants to see the care contract documents, he may wish to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). There are no good reasons for us to investigate this issue now as the courts have ruled on the care fees issue relating to those documents. It is reasonable for Mr X to pursue this documents issue with the ICO as it is the body created by national government to consider data issues, including the disclosure of information.
8. Mr X mentions in his complaint some reasons why he believes Mr Y did not incur the care costs the Council has pursued. That matter was the subject of a complaint to us from Mr X which we decided. We cannot reinvestigate complaints we have already considered and determined.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• we cannot investigate what has happened in court, including the documents the Council did or did not submit in evidence; and
• Mr X can complain to the Information Commissioner about the Council not disclosing care contract documents to him; and
• we cannot reinvestigate the Council charging Mr Y’s estate for the care fees as we have already considered and decided this issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman