Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about overcharging for care home fees because it is unlikely we could add to the Council’s investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council overcharged for his later mother, Mrs Y’s care home fees.

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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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(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 Mr X.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

What happened

5. Mrs Y was living in a care home when she was admitted to hospital on 9 January 2022. Her son, Mr X, says the care home visited Mrs Y in hospital and carried out an assessment, which determined Mrs Y’s needs had increased and could not be met in the care home. On 8 February 2022, Mrs Y was discharged to a nursing home, which was funded by the Health body until her death.
6. In its complaint response and correspondence with Mr X’s MP, the Council:
• said it was not aware the care home could no longer meet Mrs Y’s needs until 26 January 2022. It had issued a credit note for the period 26 January to 8 February 2022;
• accepted it had not ended Mrs Y’s care plan at that point, which meant it continued to issue invoices and a demand for payment. It had since issued credit notes in respect of the wrongly issued invoices;
• set out the steps it had taken to learn from what happened in this case; and
• apologised for the delay in responding to the complaint and offered to pay Mr X £200 for the inconvenience caused.

My assessment

7. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events complained about. Mr X complained to us in October 2024 about events from January 2022. However, I note his MP pursued the Council during 2023 and the Council delayed responding to his complaint in 2024, so there are good reasons for the delay in complaining to us.
8. The usual position where someone is admitted to hospital is that care home fees continue to be payable until the care home has confirmed it can no longer meet the person’s needs. Mr X says the care home decided this on 14 January 2022, but the Council says it was not aware of this until 26 February 2022. Given the lapse of time since these events, it is unlikely we will be able to resolve this conflict of evidence.
9. The Council accepted it had not ended the care plan when Mrs Y moved to nursing care and issued credit notes for the invoices it issued in error when it became aware of the mistake in June 2022.
10. The Council has apologised for its delay in responding to Mr X’s complaint and offered to pay him £200 for the injustice caused. This is in line with our Guidance on remedies, available on our website.
11. For the above reasons, we will not investigate further because it is unlikely we could add to the Council’s investigation by doing so.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely that further investigation would add to the Council’s investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman