Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council charging for care home contribution fees for three days after the resident had died. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council for the fee contribution charges.

The complaint

1. The complainant (Mr X) complains about the Council charging his late mother-in-law for care home contribution fees for a period of three days after she died. His late mother-in-law received Council funded care, but was required to make a contribution which was assessed on her income.
2. In summary, Mr X says the alleged fault has been ongoing for eight months and has delayed finalising the estate of his mother-in-law. He wants the Council to accept there should be no charge for the three days. He says his mother-in-law stopped receiving income on the day she died and so this should not be considered for the purposes of assessing her fee contribution for these days.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. The residential home care Mr X’s mother-in-law received was governed by a contractual resident agreement. This included a clause that: “if you pass away whilst this Agreement is in force, the Care Home provider will be entitled to payment of the Total Care Price for a period of three days following death. The Council will continue to seek payment of Your Statutory Contribution for this three-day period of time.”
6. The Council has explained to Mr X the decision to charge an additional three days after a person dies is part of the contract arrangements that are in place, in order to enable a person’s room to be cleared of their personal belongings and provide time for family to do this. I have assessed the resident agreement and consider this was a contract between Mr X’s mother-in-law that her estate would be liable for fees to the amount of her contribution fee she was paying before she died. I am unlikely to find fault by the Council in relation to this.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council for this charging decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman