Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council pursuing her for her husband’s care fees, despite a social worker telling her his care home place would be free of charge. We will not investigate this complaint.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council pursuing her for her husband’s care home fees, despite a social worker telling her before he moved there that his care would be free of charge. She said the Council’s actions caused her avoidable distress, including worry about the financial impact on her. She says this had a considerable adverse impact on her health and wellbeing. She wanted the Council to keep to what she considers was an undertaking that her husband’s care would be free.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 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 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
7. The complainant has had an opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X became aware of the issues she complains about in October 2022. She complained via another Ombudsman service in October 2024, more than 12 months after first becoming aware of the issues. This means her complaint is late.
9. Mrs X has provided reasons for complaining late. These include stress and exhaustion, a concurrent assessment for NHS funding, and delays in complaint processes. However, despite these explanations, there are no good reasons for us to investigate her complaint now. In reaching this view, I have taken the following into account.
• Neither Mrs X nor the Council have documentary evidence of an undertaking by the Council that her husband’s care would be free. Mrs X recalls a conversation with a social worker. The Council’s record of that conversation does not include any statements that Mr X’s care would be free. An investigation is unlikely to resolve this conflict of evidence.
• Even if we investigated and found a social worker had told Mrs X the care would be free, it is unlikely we would consider this an undertaking on behalf of the Council. We would be more likely to consider the Council had given Mrs X incorrect information about charging. Usually, the appropriate remedy for this would be for the Council to provide the correct information about charging and to offer a financial assessment of Mr X to determine what his contribution to his care fees should be. The Council has already done this. It has also waived Mr X’s fees up to February 2023, when Mrs X had had written and telephone information about charging for care and an opportunity to ask for a review of the Council’s charging decision. An investigation is unlikely to achieve more.
• Mr X can no longer make decisions about finances for himself. Mrs X holds a lasting power of attorney for Mr X’s property and finances. She has declined to give the Council information for a financial assessment of Mr X. In these circumstances, the law says the Council can treat Mr X as if it has assessed him as able to pay the full cost of his care (Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014). This means an investigation is unlikely to find fault in the Council charging Mr X the full cost of his care from February 2023. As Mrs X holds financial power of attorney for him, an investigation is unlikely to find the Council at fault for contacting her for financial assessment information and payment of the care bills.
10. For the reasons above, an investigation is unlikely to achieve the remedy Mrs X wants.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons for us to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman