Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council charges for care and support. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council with respect to its care and financial assessment of the complainant, or its charges.

The complaint

1. The complainant (Miss L) complains about the Council charging her for care and support following her suffering an injury. Miss L says the Council did not provide her with clear enough information that she would need to pay for the care herself.
2. In summary, Miss L says she would not have agreed to the care package arranged for her had she known she would need to pay for this herself. As a desired outcome, she wants the Council to waive the care invoice charges.

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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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify this. (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. I recognise that Miss L feels the Council did not provide clear enough information about the circumstances when a service user would need to meet the costs of their care. In particular, she refers to being on medication at the time of the assessment and the Council officer not mentioning this was means tested. I have however considered that Miss L was provided financial assessment documents which clearly outlined that if she had savings above the capital limit, she would be the charged the full cost of her care. Miss L signed the form confirming her understanding of this. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council with respect to the information it provided Miss L to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman