Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because the Council has already taken suitable action to remedy the complaint and any remaining unremedied personal injustice is not serious enough to warrant a further investigation by this office.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council sent him an invoice for his mother’s (Mrs Y’s) care charges, 15 months after her death, despite telling him over a year before that there were no further care charges to be paid. Mr X says the debt had already been escalated to a debt officer and the letter threatened legal action if the balance was not paid within 14 days, which caused him distress. He also complains the Council sent correspondence to Mrs Y’s address despite him informing the Council Mrs Y had died via the Tell Us Once service.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We may decide not to start an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
4. 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 the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant which included the Council’s response to his complaint.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X complained to the Council when it sent him an invoice for Mrs Y’s outstanding care charges of almost £1700, 15 months after her death. It did so despite previously telling Mr X there were no further charges due.
8. In response to Mr X’s complaint, the Council confirmed it had been informed of Mrs Y’s death via the Tell Us Once service. However, it delayed in updating the details in the finance system which meant letters were still sent to Mrs Y’s address. Taking account of this and the fact it had previously told Mr X there were no further charges due for Mrs Y’s care it told Mr X it would write off the balance. It also apologised to Mr X for the inconvenience and upset the matter had caused him. It said it would take action to ensure this did not happen again and confirmed no legal action would be taken.
9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because the Council has already taken suitable action to remedy the matter via its own investigation of the complaint and there is nothing further we would add or recommend were we to investigate. The actions the Council has taken provide a suitable remedy and any remaining unremedied injustice is not so serious that it warrants a further investigation by this office. We do not investigate every complaint we receive. We are publicly funded and must use our limited public resources to focus on those complaints where there is a significant, unremedied, personal injustice as a result of fault by a body in our jurisdiction.
10. Mr X says he seeks compensation, equal to the amount of the outstanding charges, to send a message to the Council. However, our remedies are not intended to be punitive or act as fines and we cannot award compensation in the way a court might.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has already taken suitable action to remedy the matter via its own investigation of the complaint and there is nothing further we would add or recommend.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman