Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to reconsider care charges made for a person from 2021 to their death in 2023. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s action in refusing to do so to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council has wrongly refused to check the charges for residential care for a person between 2021 and 2023. She says the person’s estate paid too much for his care.

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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.

(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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X provided a letter from a solicitor acting as the executor of the person’s will. This stated the Council had confirmed it was not made aware of a trust affecting the person’s property by the person exercising power of attorney on their behalf at the time they entered the residential care home. The solicitor confirmed the trust had been dissolved on the sale of the property, and advised there appeared to be no way to contest the assessment from 2021. If we were to investigate, it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council accepting the information it was given in 2021, and the closure of the trust is a legal matter. It follows therefore, that we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s decision not to reopen the matter now.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman