Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council invoicing the complainant for backdated care charges which the complainant disputed due to him not being informed prior. There was fault by the Council due to an error with sending the complainant invoices. However, the Council remedied any injustice caused to the complainant with an adequate payment and apology. The evidence suggests the complainant was aware of his need to contributed to his care despite having not been involved.

The complaint

1. The complainant (Mr K) complains about Council charges for his adult social care and support. He says the Council completed a financial assessment for his care charges and this determined he had not been paying enough and had to pay backdated charges of around £8,500. In summary, Mr K says he was not made aware of the changes and so does not feel he should have to pay. As a desired outcome, he wants the Council to write off the amount.

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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 consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the per-son 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 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. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Care Act 2014 gives councils the general power to charge for certain types of care and support at their discretion. This extents to charging for backdated care and support it provided, subject to reasonable information being given in advance.
5. The Council acknowledge there was fault which was caused by an administrative issue which meant invoices for care and support it provided were not delivered to Mr K from August 2023 to August 2024. Once the error was resolved, this resulted in invoice being generated with the backdated charges. To the Council’s credit, it has apologised to Mr K for the problem and written off 10% of the invoice amount which equates to around £850 in total.
6. I requested a copy of Mr K’s recent financial assessment and all invoices which informed the backdated charges. I found no evidence of fault with respect to how the backdated charges had been calculated. I note that prior to the administrative error, Mr K had been paying the Council’s invoices in respect of the contribution he needed to make towards the cost of his care. I further note that during the one year period where Mr K did not receive invoices, he continued to accept and receive care services. The evidence suggests Mr K would have been aware of his need to pay for costs and that he would need to contribute towards this, despite not being invoiced. Further, I am satisfied Mr K was aware his contribution was subject to reviews that are informed by financial assessments.
7. There was fault by the Council with respect to not sending Mr K invoices for his care, but it has remedied any injustice caused to him during its internal complaint handling. The complaint does not therefore warrant our involvement.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the restrictions I outline at paragraph two (above) apply.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman