Staffordshire County Council (23 018 269)

Category : Adult care services > Charging

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 27 Mar 2024

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s assessment of his finances and Disability Related Expenditure. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault with the actions taken by the Council to warrant an ombudsman investigation.

The complaint

  1. Mr B complained the Council wrongly assessed his finances and failed to properly consider the additional Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) he has incurred as a result of his disability. Mr B says the Council should include the following as they are non-debatable DRE, and he has explained this to the Council. Mr B wants the Council to include his insurance policy, podiatry costs, water, gas, electricity, his carers food, and due to needing a live in carer, he says 50% of his utility bills should be classed as DRE.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. The Council has explained how it considered Mr B’s finances for the purpose of charging him for care, what it considered and what it disregarded. It did not consider Mr B’s savings which are below the threshold for including in the financial assessment, and has ensured he retains the guaranteed minimum income as set out by the government below:

Social care - charging for care and support: local authority circular - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

  1. There is not enough evidence of fault from the Council’s calculations and explanations of what it has considered in Mr B’s financial assessment to warrant us investigating.
  2. The Council has explained what additional information it needs to be able to determine whether the Mr B’s requests for DRE are related to his disabilities.
  3. The Council has declined to allow Mr B’s utilities as DRE because as explained, these are normal expenses incurred by everyone. A council will only need to allow any excess to be considered as DRE due to a person’s disabilities and not as Mr B wishes, reduce his utility bills by 50%. The Council has explained it will need to see evidence of his bills over the past 12 months, Mr B will need to explain why these are higher than the average persons and how they relate to his disability. Once the Council has this information it can determine whether these can be disregarded in his financial assessment. The Council has confirmed currently £35 a week is disregarded for his carers meals and £11.97 for his laundry totalling £47.97.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault with the actions taken by the Council to warrant an ombudsman investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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