Summary: Ms B complained about the actions of a care provider in relation to her parents’ care. We have discontinued our investigation because Ms B is considering taking legal action against the care provider. This could impact on the Ombudsman’s ability to investigate her complaint. Therefore, the Ombudsman considers it best to await the outcome of Ms B’s decision before he can take a view on whether he is able to investigate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Ms B, complains about the standard of care her parents received from their care provider, Anchor Hanover Group (the Provider). She complains the Provider:
• failed to provide care to her father as set-out in his care plan;
• withdrew her father's care at very short notice;
• incorrectly invoiced for her father’s care on multiple occasions; and
• failed to investigate her complaints in line with its complaint procedures.
2. In addition to the above complaints, Ms B asked the Ombudsman to investigate the poor leadership and oversight of the Provider.
3. Ms B says the Provider’s actions have caused her a great deal of stress and she is seeking an apology, financial redress and service improvements.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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 or others. I have used the term fault to describe such actions. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B and 34C)
5. 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)
6. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. Ms B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

8. Since 2016, Ms B’s parents had lived in a property within a retirement village managed by the Provider. Both parents received daily care calls from the Provider. Following her unresolved complaints to the local management about her parents’ care, Ms B sent a formal complaint to the Provider’s head office in February 2019. She was concerned about care provision and poor invoicing.
9. The Provider gave Ms B’s father five days’ notice to quit in April 2019, citing staff illness and shortages for the reasons it could no longer provide him with the care he needed. As a result, Mr B had to temporarily leave his home and wife and move into a care home while Ms B tried to arrange alternative care. Ms B says the Provider gave notice because she complained.
10. Ms B raised several complaints with the Provider about incorrect invoicing for care. She was unhappy with the responses she received and the invoices which referred to different amounts which she says was not consistent with the level of care provided.
11. In response to Ms B’s complaints, the Provider reviewed the care records and initially identified an outstanding balance of £2205.69, a debt which it said had been written off as a ‘good will gesture’. Ms B continued to dispute the figures and the Provider recalculated the care charges twice more, ultimately concluding that the final balance was -£1748.09. Ms B remains unhappy with the care charges and continues to dispute them.
12. Ms B has advised the Ombudsman she is considering legal action against the Provider in relation to her late father’s care bill and breach of contract regarding the short notice period to withdraw his care. She says any such action is unlikely to address the distress suffered by her and her mother and asks the Ombudsman to consider this injustice.
13. As Ms B is considering taking legal action, we have discontinued our investigation. This is because the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate a complaint or the related injustice after it has been considered in the court of law. The decision to pursue legal action is likely to impact on the Ombudsman’s ability to consider all parts of Ms B’s complaint. Once the outcome of Ms B’s decision and any subsequent legal action is known, Ms B can resubmit her complaint to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman can then assess what issues and injustice remains and whether we are able to investigate.

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Final decision

14. I have discontinued my investigation into the actions of the Provider as Ms B is considering taking legal action.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman