Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council completed a financial assessment. That is because most of the complaint is late. Where the complaint is in time, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the package of care received by his late relative, Mrs Y. He said the Care Provider failed to take appropriate care of Mrs Y which resulted in her admission to hospital.
2. Mr X also complained the Council delayed completing a financial assessment for Mrs Y, which resulted in her full funding a residential care place, after she had gone under the financial threshold. He said the Council had reimbursed some money, however, he believes Mrs Y’s estate is still owed additional money.
3. Mr X said Mrs Y suffered distress and financial loss. He said the family had also been caused anxiety and distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. 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

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints about the care Mrs Y received. These complaints date back to 2021. Mr X did not complain to the Ombudsman until 2025, therefore these complaints are late and there are no good reasons to investigate them now.
10. Mrs Y entered a residential home in July 2021. At this time, she was self-funding. The Council completed a financial assessment in April 2022. It assessed her as going under the financial threshold in on 27 September 2021. It credited Mrs Y’s account. Mrs Y’s family complained to the Council, as they did not believe it had reimbursed Mrs Y the correct amount.
11. We will also not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council delayed in completing a financial assessment. The Council completed that assessment in April 2022. Therefore, this complaint is late. In any event, even if it was not late, we would not investigate. That is because the Council did not receive the necessary information to complete the assessment until February 2022. We would not consider two months a significant delay and there is nothing to suggest this caused a significant injustice.
12. Mr X knew the amount the Council agreed to credit Mrs Y’s account in 2022. If they disagreed with the amount credited it would have been reasonable for them to come to us sooner. Again, this complaint is late. However, even if it was not late, we would not investigate. The Council’s complaint responses set out the amount credited and how it reached that amount. It explained that it needed to deduct client contributions before reimbursing any money. From reviewing the financial information provided in the Council’s complaint response there is not enough evidence of fault in how it calculated the amount reimbursed to justify our involvement.
13. In 2024, Mr X provided the Council additional financial information for Mrs Y. That showed Mrs X dipped under the threshold in August 2021. The Council backdated her financial assessment. It used the credited money to offset outstanding balances for her care. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
14. The Council has offered to meet with Mr X if he has remaining concerns about how it has completed the financial assessments. This would remain the most appropriate course of action if the money owed remains in dispute.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because most of it is late and there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman