The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council charging the late Mr B for his contribution towards his care. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault with the actions taken by the Council to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.
The complaint
Mr B says the Council should not have charged Mr C for his care in 2019 up until he died in 2022 because it said it would pay a proportion of the fees not covered by a third-party top. Mr B says the Council did not take Mr C’s religious beliefs into consideration when he moved into the home of his choice and sent the letter explaining his contribution to his previous care provider.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr B complains in his role as executor of the late Mr C’s estate. The Council’s role is to undertake a financial assessment to determine whether a person has enough money to either pay the full amount of their care fees or a contribution towards it. This is not fault and is separate to any third-party top-up arrangements. Although Mr B says the Mr C did not receive the letter explaining his contribution in 2019, his representatives were aware of it in December 2019 at the latest. It would have been for Mr C or his representatives to complain about his contribution towards his care costs at the time if he believed it was incorrect. We will not investigate this point now.
The role of the executor is to pay any outstanding debts, care fees being a primary debt and wind up the estate. If in his capacity as executor, Mr B believes Mr C is not responsible for the debt, he can refuse to make the payment and challenge any action taken by the Council as a result of the non-payment in a court.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault with the actions taken by the Council to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman