Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delays in the Council assessing Mr X’s care needs and finances. This is because any delay would not have caused an injustice to Mr X.

The complaint

1. Ms Y complains about delays in the Council responding to a request for help paying for their father, Mr X’s, care home fees after he moved to its area in late 2023. She says the delay meant the Council wrongly refused to pay for some of Mr X’s care home fees.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Background

5. Mr X first moved to a care home, outside the Council’s area, in August 2023. At the time, Mr X owned a half share in his former home and his family paid his fees for the first care home.
6. In October 2023, Mr X moved to a different care home, this time in the Council’s area. His family continued to pay his care home fees.
7. Mr X’s family contacted the Council in late October 2023, asking for support with his care home fees. They asked the Council for a “12-week disregard” of Mr X’s former home.
8. The Council allocated a social worker to assess Mr X’s needs in December 2023, however Mr X moved out of its area in late December 2023, so it never completed the assessment.

Injustice to Mr X

9. I do not consider any delays in allocating a social worker or assessing Mr X’s needs caused him an injustice.
10. The 12-week disregard period for the value of Mr X’s former home started when her first moved into a care home in August 2023. At the point when his family asked the Council for help with Mr X’s care home fees, there were only around three weeks left of the disregard period.
11. The Council does not have a duty to meet a person’s care needs until it has assessed these and decided they are eligible (Care Act 2014 sections 13 and 18). It is unlikely the Council would have been able to complete its assessment of Mr X’s care needs within that three-week period and therefore it would only likely have decided he had eligible needs after the end of the 12-week disregard period. At that point, the disregard period would have been over and Mr X would have had savings or assets of more than £23,250. So, the Council would have decided it did not have a duty to meet his care needs and it was not allowed to pay anything towards his care home fees.
12. Therefore, any delay in allocating a social worker or completing the assessment between late October 2023 and December 2023 did not cause Mr X to miss out on any financial or other support.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms Y’s complaint because any delays did not cause any injustice to Mr X or his family.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman