Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an alleged failure by the Council to provide accurate and timely information concerning charges for adult social care. This is because we cannot add to the Council’s previous investigation and outcome agreed with the complainant. There is also insufficient evidence of a significant enough injustice being caused by any fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant (Mrs X) complains on behalf of her daughter (Miss P) who has adult social care needs and lacks mental capacity. Mrs X is unhappy about allegedly being misinformed by the Council in relation to charges for Miss P’s care. Specifically, she says that when a claim was made for Miss P to receive universal credit, the Council told her the change in income would not lead to a change in charges for care.
2. Subsequently, Mrs X says she received an unexpected invoice four months later for care charges in excess of £1,400 which required payment within 14 days. She is dissatisfied with the time she was expected to pay the charges, and that the Council did not inform her of the charges sooner. In summary, Mrs X says the alleged fault has caused a lot of frustration, uncertainty and time and trouble in dealing with the issues. As a desired outcome, she wants the Council to acknowledge its failings and apologise.

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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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by a council. (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 found that following Mrs X applying universal credit on Miss P’s behalf in August 2023, the Council later carried out a financial assessment to determine whether a contribution towards meeting her care needs was required. This is because the claim for universal credit meant an increase in Miss P’s income. The financial assessment was carried out in November 2023 and completed a month later. This assessed and identified Miss P as needing to pay approximately £65 per week towards the cost of her care. Mrs X was notified of charges for Mrs X care in early January 2024 following the Council sending her a letter in late December 2023. The care charges date back to August 2023. The letter sent to Mrs X did outline care charges in excess of £1,400 and required payment within 14 days.
6. I considered government issued statutory guidance for local authorities relating to care and support. This outlines that councils should inform a service user or their representative when a financial assessment takes place. There is no evidence the Council did so when it carried out a financial assessment in Miss P’s case. This meant the Council’s letter to Mrs X containing the care charges was unexpected and would have made making payment of these within 14 days challenging. There is however no evidence of fault with respect to the financial assessment itself or with the amount billed for care. Mrs X does not dispute the amount and has agreed to pay the charges. Any injustice is therefore limited to the unexpected nature of the charges and amount of time payment was required by.
7. The Ombudsman is only required to accept a complaint where the complainant has been caused a significant and personal injustice because of fault by the Council. This means Mrs X would need to show she or Miss P has suffered serious loss, harm or distress. I found that following Mrs X notifying the Council of the problem, the amount of time by which payment is required has been extended and agreed upon. In my view, this provides an adequate remedy and I do not consider there is sufficient evidence of a significant enough injustice being caused to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot add to the Council’s investigation and outcome. There is also insufficient evidence of a significant enough injustice being caused by any fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman