Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to pay a Care Provider for its resident’s care. The courts are best placed to consider the matter.

The complaint

1. Miss X, on behalf of a care provider, complained the Council wrongly reduced funding for one of its residents in 2022. She said the Care Provider continued providing the original level of care without full payment, in the person’s best interests. Miss X wanted the Council to pay for the hours it refused to, which amounted to more than £35,000.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. The law says where it would be reasonable for a person to refer a matter to court, we will not investigate it instead. In this case, I am satisfied the courts are best placed to consider the complaint Miss X has brought. This is because:
• If we investigated the complaint, we would likely only investigate events from June 2023 onwards. This is because the law says people should bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter, and there is not a good reason the Care Provider did not refer earlier events to us sooner. We would not, therefore, consider the entire period the Care Provider seeks payment for and we could not achieve the outcome Miss X seeks.
• The matter likely requires interpretation of contracts and agreements between the Council and the Care Provider beyond the common sense, layperson’s approach we could take.
• It is not the Ombudsman’s role to assess economic losses or award compensation in the same way the courts can.
• The complainant is a care provider with the resources to take court action. Care providers regularly pursue payment for fees in court, and the Care Provider likely already has a solicitor it uses to pursue unpaid care fees.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the courts are best placed to consider the matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman