Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the actions of his mother’s, Mrs C’s, care provider. This is because they have not caused Mr B or Mrs C a significant enough injustice to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

The complaint

1. Mr B says his mother’s, Mrs C’s, care provider wrongly invoiced her for her care when she became eligible for Council support in June 2018. Mr B says the cheque sent by Mrs Cs care provider covered the amount Mrs C had paid but was less than the invoice sent. Mr B says the Ombudsman should investigate the care provider’s accounting and should apologise to him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about adult social care providers and decide whether their actions have caused an injustice, or could have caused injustice, to the person making the complaint. I have used the term fault to describe such actions. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B and 34C)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I disucssed the concerns with Mr B and considered the information he provided. I sent Mr B a copy of my draft decision for comment.

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What I found

4. Mr B is unhappy with the way Mrs C’s care provider considered his complaints about wrong invoices it sent when the Council took over funding Mrs C’s care in June 2018.
5. The care provider says it refunded Mrs C for six days of care she had paid for which was then funded by the Council. It advised Mr B the cheque had been waiting collection since April.
6. Mr B says there was a difference of approximately £200 between the amount requested in the invoice and what was returned by cheque and wants the Ombudsman to investigate the discrepancies in the care provider’s accounting.
7. Mrs C’s care costs £2743.62 per month. This equates to £90.20 per day. Six days costs £541.20. The care provider reimbursed Mrs C £542.94. Whilst Mr B is unhappy with the discrepancies in the accounting, Mrs C has not been caused any significant injustice warranting an investigation by the Ombudsman.
8. Mr B has confirmed the amount returned in the cheque by the care provider covers the amount Mrs B had paid for care before the Council took over funding. He has also confirmed he did not pay the invoice. There is no significant injustice to either Mr B or Mrs C from the care provider’s actions warranting an Ombudsman investigation.
9. Mr B is concerned the care provider’s poor accounting may cause injustice to other vulnerable clients. Mr B can ask the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as the regulator of care provider’s to consider his concerns during its routine inspections. Information about CQC can be found on the website below:

https://cqc.org.uk/

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the actions of the care provider has not caused a significant enough injustice to either Mr B or Mrs C to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman