Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council has charged for her late father’s care placement. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our involvement. In addition, there is no remaining significant injustice caused by fault in the Council delaying completing a financial assessment.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council sent her a bill for over £8000 to pay for her late father’s care placement. Miss X said a lack of communication meant she did not understand a weekly charge would be payable. Miss X does not believe she is liable to pay this amount.
2. Miss X said this has caused her extreme stress.

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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, 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’s father (Mr Y) received care and support in a permanent care home placement from July 2024 until he sadly passed away in April 2025.
7. Miss X believed Mr Y was eligible for continuing healthcare (CHC), however an assessment confirmed he was not eligible. Any concerns about the CHC assessment process, as well as any request for backdated funding, is for the Iintegrated care board (ICB) to consider and respond to. It is open to Mrs X to raise her complaints with the ICB.
8. The Council said before it arranged the placement, it told Miss X a financial assessment would be completed for Mr Y to determine his ability to contribute towards his care placement. The Council also gave Mrs X documents which contained information about the financial assessment process, and this was used to determine how much a service user could afford to pay towards their care and support charges.
9. I have reviewed these documents and am satisfied they contained clear information that Mr Y may need to contribute towards the cost of his care. Additionally, the Council would complete a financial assessment to calculate the contribution he would need to make.
10. Therefore, an investigation is not warranted as we are not likely to find fault. This is because the Council provided appropriate information to Miss X to make her aware that her father would be assessed to determine how much he would need to contribute towards the cost of his care.
11. The Council accepted there was a delay in it completing the financial assessment. It confirmed the assessment was not completed until April 2025. The Council offered Miss X £500 credit to the outstanding balance to remedy the injustice caused by this delay. While we are likely to find this amounted to fault, I am satisfied the Council has adequately remedied any significant injustice the fault caused. In any case, even if but for fault, the case would be that the contribution would remain payable.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and there is no unremedied significant injustice remaining.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman