Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s calculation of her mother’s financial expenditure when it calculated how much she should contribute towards her domiciliary care. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council’s wrongly decided not to include the rent her late mother, Mrs Z, paid when it calculated how much she should contribute towards her domiciliary care.
2. Ms X wants the Council to recalculate Mrs Z’s contributions and refund any overpayments.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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. Ms X is challenging the way the Council determined how much Mrs Z should contribute towards the costs of her home care.
7. Ms X says her mother paid £400 rent in cash to her each calendar month for over 20 years before her death. The Council refused to include this as an expenditure when calculating what Mrs Z should have paid for her care without independent proof. This is because there is no evidence of a monthly payment of £400 leaving Mrs Z’s account and no evidence of a £400 monthly payment entering Ms Z’s account. Ms X says this because her mother paid cash. When the Council asked Ms X to provide her annual HMRC self-assessment tax form, Ms X said she did not have to submit one because the monthly property expenses were such that it brought the rent down to below the threshold that required a self-assessment form. The Council therefore asked for proof of these expenses which Ms X has not provided.
8. We will not investigate this complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation. The Council is entitled to ask for independent proof that Mrs Z has paid Ms X rent. The onus is on Ms X to provide this evidence.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman