Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not using its discretion to arrange a residential care home placement for a self-funding resident. This is because there is no fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. In short, Mr X says the Council has failed to use its discretion to arrange his mother’s care home placement. Mr X would like this to allow his mother to benefit from lower care fees charged to Council funded care home residents.
2. Mr X says his mother is being forced to subsidise Council funded residents in her care home. Mr X wants the Council to place his mother in her present care home at no cost to the council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Assessment

7. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether you disagree with the decision the organisation made.
8. We will not investigate as there is no indication of fault by the Council. There is no obligation on the Council to arrange care home placements of self-funded residents. The differences between the rates paid are contractual matters beyond our remit. Ultimately service users can choose which home to enter in to a contract with and agree a certain rate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no indication of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman