Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to recover outstanding care charges from Mrs Y’s estate. The complaint is late without good reason to investigate it now. There is also not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to recover the outstanding care charges.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council is pursuing outstanding care charges owed by his late relative, Mrs Y, who died in 2020. He says this has caused him distress and financial hardship. He wants the Council to write off the debt because of the time that has passed and because he says Mrs Y received inadequate 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))
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council
6. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X previously held lasting power of attorney for Mrs Y and managed payments to her care provider on her behalf.
8. In 2019, Mr X complained to the Council about the standard of care Mrs Y received. Around this time he stopped paying her contribution towards her care costs because of his concerns about the care provided. The Council told Mr X that Mrs Y remained liable for the care charges.
9. Mr X later complained to us about the standard of care Mrs Y received. He did not complain about liability for the care charges, so we did not consider that issue.
10. We completed our investigation in 2021 and made recommendations to remedy faults in the care provided. We did not make any findings about the outstanding care charges.
11. Mrs Y died in 2020 and Mr X inherited her estate. The Council has since sought to recover the outstanding care charges from the estate.
12. Mr X has been aware since 2019 that the Council considered Mrs Y liable for the care charges. If he disagreed with this, he could have complained to us about the issue at that time. I see no good reason for the delay in bringing this complaint, so we will not investigate this aspect of the complaint now.
13. In any event, Mr X’s concerns about the standard of care did not remove Mrs Y’s liability to pay assessed care charges. The Council is entitled to seek recovery of outstanding charges from her estate. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to pursue the debt to justify us investigating.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint about liability for the care charges is late and there are no good reasons to investigate it now. There is also not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to recover the outstanding charges from Mrs Y’s estate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman