West Northamptonshire Council (24 020 277)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We have upheld Mr and Mrs X’s complaint about a delay in the Council reimbursing care charges to their adult son, Mr Z. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.
The complaint
- Mr and Mrs X complain about the Council’s delayed reimbursement of care charges to their son despite there being NHS Continuing Health Care funding since September 2024. Mrs X has repeatedly chased the Council for the refund to Mr Z, which the Council did not make until the end of March 2025. This has caused Mr Z and his parents frustration and inconvenience.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- If we investigated this complaint, it is likely we would find the Council at fault because it took too long to reimburse care charges to Mr Z and only completed this action after Mrs X had chased it several times and then complained.
- We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by its actions by making a small payment of £100 to Mr Z to resolve the complaint early.
Agreed action
- To its credit the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint and will make the payment of £100 to Mr Z within one month of this decision statement to put things right.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mr Z and his parents.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman