Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs B’s complaint about a debt for care charges the Council says she owes. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complains about care charges the Council says she owes which have accumulated since 2020 and amounts to over £25,000. Mrs B says the Council should have told her about the charges sooner instead of allowing the debt to accumulate over several years. Mrs B says she is a vulnerable adult with dementia, and the Council should have been aware of her needs. She says the debt for care charges has caused her worry and distress which means she does not sleep well. Mrs B says she cancelled the care as she cannot afford to pay and this increases the carer’s strain experienced by her husband. Mrs B wants the Council to cancel the charges.

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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. Mrs B received care from the Council in the form of direct payments from around 2013. In March 2025 the Council wrote to her and said she owed backdated care charges from April 2020 amounting to over £25,000. Mrs B then complained to the Council via an advocate.
6. The Council investigated Mrs B’s complaint and said it had completed a financial assessment and sent annual letters from 2013. It said the letter provided details of the income it had used to calculate charges. It said it had assessed Mrs B as nil charge which meant she did not contribute to her care costs.
7. In February 2025 the Council said it became aware of a change in Mrs B’s income which happened in 2020. This was following a review of Mrs B’s care ad support arrangements and information from the Department of Work and Pensions. The Council said the change in Mrs B’s income meant she should have been contributing to her care costs from 2020.
8. The Council said the annual letter Mrs B received outlined what would happen if a person did not report changes. Because Mrs B had failed to report the change in her income the Council backdated the care charges to when she became liable. This covered a period of at least four years. The Council said it presumed Mrs B had the mental capacity to manage her finances as it did not receive information to suggest otherwise.
9. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. Mrs B was financially assessed by the Council and received annual letters from the Council confirming she did not have to pay towards her care. The annual letter provided a breakdown of the income the Council had used to calculate the nil charge.
10. The Council annual letter said, “you must check that the financial information that we hold is accurate. If you do not make us aware of any changes in your financial circumstances, and this results in us undercharging you, your charge will be backdated to the date the change took place”. The letter also said Mrs B could contact the Council if she did not understand the information or if she wanted support or had questions. There is not enough evidence to show Mrs B reported the change in her income to the Council as outlined in the letters it sent. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman