Summary: We will not investigate this complaint from a care provider about what happened when a service user moved to a different placement. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s response to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains, as a care provider, the Council failed to provide notice when terminating care for a service user.
2. Miss X would like an apology and payment for the outstanding balance.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. 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))

4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. In short, Miss X says the Council failed to keep in contact with her company after a service user spent two months in hospital and moved to a different placement after their hospital discharge. She says the Council owes fees as it failed to provide notice of the service user’s move.

8. The Council has responded to name staff it was in contact with when discussing the return of the service user. Overall, it found sufficient efforts were made to keep staff informed. It notes contact was also prompted by concerns from the NHS as to whether the service user could return. The Council denies notice was not provided. It says it continued to pay for care while the service user was in hospital for two months. But it decided a notice period was not necessary after it was not able to agree on fees with the care provider if the service user returned.
9. We will not investigate. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. Further, Miss X held a contract with the Council for the service provider’s care, and it was open to her to seek recovery of any outstanding fees via court action. It was reasonable to expect her to do this to allow the court to determine any contractual liabilities by the Council.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman