Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about charges for care services she received in 2022. She says she should not have to pay the charges as she was not aware she was being charged for the care services until June 2022. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint. In addition, the claimed fault has not caused any significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about charges for care services she received in 2022. She says she should not have to pay the charges as she was not aware she was being charged for the care services until June 2022.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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. Miss X received care and support services. In March 2022, the Council sent Miss X a letter which detailed the outcome of her financial assessment and how much she had been assessed as needing to contribute towards the cost of her care and support services.
7. Miss X said she did not receive this letter. However, she had contacted the Council in June 2022 to discuss her charges. Case notes of this telephone call showed the advisor had acknowledged invoices had been sent to Miss X’s old address. However, as the financial assessment outcome letter had been sent to Miss X’s correct address, the Council would apply the care charges from April 2022 onwards. The Council agreed to cancel all care charges prior to that date and evidence showed the Council did this.
8. Miss X said herself she was aware of her care charges from June 2022. Therefore, it was reasonable to expect her to have complained about her assessed charges earlier if she was unhappy with how much the Council has assessed her as needing to pay.
9. Further, the evidence also shows the Council had issued Miss X an invoice to her correct address in August 2022. This invoice clearly set out a balance was due on her account of just over £317. Therefore, again, Miss X had sufficient information in 2022 to be aware of her charges and the outstanding balance that was due and so it was reasonable for her to have complained earlier if she disagreed with the charges and balance due. Therefore, we will not investigate Miss X’s complaint as the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.
10. Miss X also complains about the Council only chasing her for the outstanding balance owed in 2025. I am satisfied this complaint is not late as the Council sent Miss X a letter in February 2025 asking for payment for the outstanding balance and Miss X says this is the first time the Council had contacted her about the debt.
11. However, an investigation is not proportionate as the claimed fault has not caused any significant injustice as Miss X is still in the same position she would have been in even if the Council had contacted her earlier to chase the debt. This is because Miss X is responsible for paying her assessed charges and the Council is only requesting payment of the balance she always had to pay.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint. In addition, the claimed fault has not caused any significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman