Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X being charged at a private rate for residential home care received. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our further involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X said the Council failed to advise properly when he was incapacitated and his wife Mrs X required residential care because he could not look after her. He said the Council was wrong to regard charges before January 2025 as private, and should backdate the financial assessment to the date she entered the care home, not the date he was able to contact it.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

(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 and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Having seen the Council’s response to Mr X’s complaint, I asked it for a copy of its records for the period concerned when the care was first needed. These recorded the Council told Mr X’s family the financial implications of arranging residential care privately rather than going via the financial assessment route, given the family had said that Mr X’s wife’s savings were likely to be below the financial threshold for full contribution. It also recorded the family asked the Council not to continue to contact it about respite care. The care provided would thus have been charged by the home privately at the full rate until the family contacted the Council in January 2025 to request a financial assessment.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman