Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to apply a discretionary property disregard. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to apply a discretionary property disregard to his father, Mr Y’s, property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr Y lives in a care home. His son, Mr X, lives in Mr Y’s property. Mr Y has a court appointed deputy to represent him and make decisions in his best interests.
7. Mr X wants the Council to apply a discretionary property disregard to Mr Y’s property. This would mean the Council would not be able to take the value of the property into account when calculating Mr Y’s care home fees. Nor would it be able to sell it to recover any costs owed.
8. The Council considered Mr X’s request. It said that he had no legal standing to request a property disregard as only Mr Y’s deputy could so do. The Council said that when any mandatory disregards came into effect, it would apply them.
9. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council determined Mr X had no legal standing to request a property disregard for Mr Y’s property which could only be done by Mr Y’s deputy. There is nothing in legislation to indicate this view is unlawful and so not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
10. But in any case, discretionary disregards are just that, discretionary. The Council considered Mr X’s individual circumstances and decided it would not exercise its discretion. It wrote and explained its reasons why. Where there is no fault in how a Council made its decision, we cannot criticise the decision itself. That is the case here. Therefore, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman