Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s assessment of her late mother’s adult social care fees. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault with the Council’s decision to include a mobile home in its assessment and because we cannot add to the Council’s investigation into delays informing Mrs X about the charges and her right of appeal.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council has contacted her to recover care costs four years after her mother, Mrs Y, passed away. She also disputes their decision to include the value of her mother’s mobile home in the Council’s financial assessment and states that she was not advised of her right to appeal this.

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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 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, 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

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

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My assessment

5. The charging rules for residential care are set out in the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 and councils should have regard to the Care and Support Statutory Guidance (the Guidance) when deciding how much someone should pay for residential care. The Guidance also lists circumstances where a property must be disregarded. It allows councils discretion to disregard a property if none of the mandatory disregards applies.
6. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to include Mrs Y’s mobile home in its financial assessment to calculate the outstanding care fees owed. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault as the Council had the discretion to make such a decision.
7. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about delays informing her of the assessment. The Council has apologised for the delay in contacting Mrs X about the debt and for not advising her of her right to appeal at the time. The Council has carried out a review of the assessment, identified learning to avoid the issues arising again and told Mrs X who she can contact to discuss payment options. This is a proportionate and appropriate response, and we could therefore not add to the Council’s investigation.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman