London Borough of Croydon (25 016 779)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in invoicing Mr Y for his care. The Council has agreed to remedy Mr Y’s and Miss X’s injustice at an early stage by apologising and issuing the invoice to the correct address. It is therefore not proportionate for us to investigate the complaint.
The complaint
- Miss X complained the Council failed to invoice Mr Y, her father, for his care despite having carried out financial assessments. Miss X said the funds in Mr Y’s bank account were increasing such that it affected his eligibility for certain benefits. Miss X said this had caused significant stress and inconvenience. She wanted the Council to invoice Mr Y so that he could pay for his care.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr Y has received Council-commissioned care for several years and has been financially assessed several times. However Miss X, his daughter and attorney, had not received invoices in order to pay his contributions to the Council.
- Miss X complained to the Council in 2025. In its response, it said it had been made aware of Miss X’s status as Mr Y’s financial attorney in early 2024, but it had not updated the contact details on its system to send invoices to the correct address. It apologised and said it would update the details and send the invoice.
- The Council then issued an invoice in May 2025, however this was sent to a third party address rather than that of Mr Y or Miss X. If we were to investigate this complaint, it is likely we would find fault causing Miss X and Mr Y injustice.
- Due to this, I asked the Council to take action to remedy the injustice we would likely decide this caused if we investigated the complaint. The Council agreed to:
- apologise to Miss X in line with our guidance on effective apologies; and
- send an up to date invoice to either Miss X or Mr Y’s current address.
- The Council will take this action within one month of my final decision. It is then open to Miss X to provide the relevant evidence to the Department for Work and Pensions to resolve any outstanding uncertainty about the status of Mr Y’s finances. I am satisfied the action the Council proposes to take is sufficient to remedy the injustice to Mr Y and Miss X, and that it is therefore not proportionate to investigate the matter further.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the Council has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice we would likely decide had been caused by fault if we investigated.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman