Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the actions of the Council acting a deputy for her late mother’s, Mrs C’s, finances. This is because the Council has provided Mrs B with the documentation she has asked for so there is unremedied injustice warranting an Ombudsman investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs B says the Council has not provided a full breakdown of what it paid out and spent her late mother’s, Mrs C’s money on when it was her court appointed deputy for finances. Mrs B says Mrs C’s care was funded by the NHS from April 2014 until she died in October 2018 so she should not have been paying anything toward her care.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I discussed the concerns with Mrs B and considered the information and documentation she and the Council provided. I sent Mrs B a copy of my draft decision for comment.

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What I found

4. Mrs B says she is not clear why her late mother, Mrs C, paid any contribution towards her care as she believed her care had been funded by the NHS since April 2014. The Council confirmed Mrs C’s care was not free of charge and she was assessed as having enough income to contribute towards her care. The charges were taken from her benefit entitlements. The Council supplied Mrs B with bank statements from 2016 showing what it had paid. It has asked the bank for statements dating back to 2013 as Mrs B has requested these.
5. It is not an administrative function of the Council to decide whether a person is eligible for CHC funding, nor can the Council decide not to provide CHC funding. In the absence of evidence from the NHS confirming Mrs C was eligible for CHC funding from April 2014, there is no fault with the Council for charging Mrs C for care it provided during this period.
6. If Mrs B has evidence that Mrs C would have been eligible for CHC funding she can ask the NHS to consider a retrospective application. Mrs B as the applicant can tell the CCG why she disputes the Council’s view and say what nursing care Mrs C received. But it is up to CCG to get all information it needs to decide an application. Information about the NHS CHC funding can be found on the website below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-framework-for-nhs-continuing-healthcare-and-nhs-funded-nursing-care

7. Mrs B complained it took the Council over three months to pay her the surplus money in Mrs C’s account following her death in October 2018. The Council explained Mrs C had no arrears regarding care fee on her account. It explained it required Probate to release Estate funds and needed time to contact a recorded other next of kin. Plus, it says it needed time to gather information on any other encumbrances due from the Estate. It said this was pursued as quickly as was possible and released funds to Mrs B of £4598.36 in January 2019. The Council apologised if this had caused Mrs B any stress but explained it had to follow its policy. The Ombudsman could not add to this or make a different finding even if he investigated.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has provided Mrs B with the documentation she has asked for so there is unremedied injustice warranting an Ombudsman investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman