Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council carried out a financial assessment. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council did not properly carry out a financial assessment for his social care costs, and the assessor behaved in a disrespectful way. He stated the process has left him feeling anxious and stressed over his finances. He would like the Council to correct issues with his financial assessment.

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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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome

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

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My assessment

5. Councils can take disability-related benefit into account when calculating how much someone should pay towards the cost of their care. When doing so, a council should make an assessment to allow the person to keep enough benefit to pay for necessary disability-related expenditure (DRE) to meet any needs it is not meeting.
6. Mr X complained the Council did not properly carry out his financial assessment for his social care costs. He said the Council did not consider all his DRE as part of his financial assessment.
7. In its complaint response, the Council said it carried out a re-assessment of Mr X’s finances and increased his DRE to include his purchase of a rise/recline chair. The Council said it had asked Mr X to submit receipts or invoices for other DRE items, and it would carry out a further re-assessment. The Council confirmed that it had not received further evidence of DRE expenditure from Mr X. We will not investigate this part of the complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
8. Mr X said the Council officer that conducted the financial assessment was rude, and he asked them to leave his home. In its complaint response, the Council apologised to Mr X about the service he received and for any upset this caused. We will not investigate this part of the complaint because the Council has apologised, and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman