Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about care fees as we cannot achieve the outcome Mrs X seeks which is for the fees to be written off. We will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mrs X’s complaint separately as in isolation I do not consider any injustice arising from this is sufficient to justify our further involvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council contacted her, as executor of a relative’s will, about an outstanding bill for care, over two years after Mrs X’s relative had passed away. Mrs X queried this and says she was advised to seek a ‘write-off’ of the bill via making a complaint to the Council. Mrs X complains she was never contacted about a complaint until the Council provided a complaint response and that as such Mrs X considers the Council failed to properly deal with the complaint under the law. Mrs X says the delay in contacting her about the bill has caused her distress and worry as funds from the estate had long been distributed. Mrs X wants the outstanding amount to be written off and an apology for the distress and inconvenience caused. Mrs X wants the Council to review its communications and ensure it adheres to the statutory complaint procedure regarding adult social care complaints.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (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 the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. I recognise Mrs X remains unhappy about the demand from the Council for payment of the outstanding care bill, but we cannot ask the Council to write it off as the money owed is essentially money owed to the public purse.
7. In its complaint response, the Council apologised to Mrs X for the delay in pursuing the debt and also explained it was seeking a lesser amount than that actually owed, which it said was significantly higher. The Council explained it had decided not to pursue the full amount due to it having acknowledged an error in its invoicing. This would represent a remedy far in excess of any financial remedy we could recommend the Council make for injustice arising from any delay in it seeking payment.
8. However, it is unlikely we would ask for such a remedy in any case. This is because it seems clear an invoice had been sent to Mrs X previously for payment. While Mrs X refers to an email she received from the Council the following year, which she considers indicated no debt was outstanding, this email was in response to her query about care home fees. The Council advised in response that Mrs X would need to take that up with the private care home itself. The Council’s email did not explicitly say that no debt was owed to it. It would have been incumbent upon Mrs X to ensure that was the case, particularly as she says a family member had tried to challenge the fees at the time, but that the matter had remained unresolved. Had Mrs X done this, in accordance with her legal duties as executor of the will, it seems probable that this complaint could have been avoided.
9. I recognise Mrs X is unhappy at the way her complaint was dealt with, but the Council considered the situation fully and provided a detailed response. I do not consider any injustice from any fault in its complaint handling is sufficient to warrant our further involvement.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome she seeks and there is insufficient injustice arising from any Council fault to justify our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman