Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s care charges because there is not enough evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council is incorrectly charging her for care and has failed to transfer her provision to her local council after she moved.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, 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

4. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council says it gave Miss X information about care charges and completed a financial assessment in 2023, sending invoices to her mother as the financial appointee. Miss X’s complaint that she should not be paying for her care is late, as the decision she would pay towards her care was made in 2023 and Miss X had notice of this at the time. I see no good reason to consider the late complaint.
7. The Council has provided Miss X with supported living accommodation since 2023 and 1:1 support from 2023 to January 2025 and then from October 2025 onwards. These are care services that Miss X needs to pay towards.
8. The Council notified Miss X of an increase in her care costs in April 2025.
9. The Council says Miss X has failed to pay invoices leading to a debt on the account. It is liaising with her mother as the financial appointee to resolve this.
10. The Council says it has no record it told Miss X it would stop her care if she did not pay the debt owed. Where it is one person’s word against the other we cannot reach a finding.
11. Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to charge for care is late. And there is not enough evidence of fault regarding charges applied in the past 12 months to justify an investigation.
12. In its complaint response the Council said it would address Miss X’s request to transfer her care to her local council. It acknowledged the delay in doing so. The Council has since written to Miss X to explain the law says it must remain responsible for her care provision. This is because it placed her in supported living accommodation outside of her area and the Care Act specifies in these circumstances it remains responsible for care.
13. Given Miss X’s care remains with the Council I consider any delay in it addressing her request to transfer care does not cause a significant enough injustice to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman