Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s contact with the complainant about his care and support and charges for care. The Council confirmed it would review the complainant’s care and support needs and complete a financial assessment when it responded to his complaint. Any injustice was remedied during the Council’s complaint investigation. We cannot add to the Council’s previous investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains the Council failed to respond to communication from him and his care provider when he contacted its adult social care team. He also complains the Council has sent him invoices for care charges when he is on a limited income and he feels he should not have to pay. Mr B says the Council is treating him unfairly and this impacts on his general wellbeing. He wants the Council to stop sending him invoices and for it to provide him with the care and support he needs.

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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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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. Mr B says he struggles to look after himself due to his poor health, so he has a care provider in place to support him with his care needs. He complained to the Ombudsman because he felt the Council was not providing him with the care he needed and it was charging him for care despite his limited income.
6. The Council responded to Mr B’s complaint via its complaint processes after we told it about the complaint and gave it an opportunity to respond. The Council said it would allocate a social worker to complete a care review with Mr B and provide an opportunity for him to discuss his care needs. It also said it would complete a financial assessment to ensure it had properly considered Mr B’s financial circumstances.
7. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because any injustice was remedied during the Council’s complaint investigation. We cannot add to the previous investigation the Council completed.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because any injustice was remedied during the Council complaint investigation and we cannot add to the previous investigation completed.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman