The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of the final care charges for her late father. This is because we have not seen enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
The complaint
Ms X complains about how the Council handled her late father’s, Mr Y, care charges. She says after Mr Y passed away, she asked for a bill with the final care charges. Ms X said she paid the bill but then received another bill for care charges.
Ms X disputes the second bill. She also provided us with her own calculations.
Ms X would like the Council to say it made a mistake and apologise.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of significant fault with the Council’s actions to justify a further investigation by us. We note the Council previously accepted that its staff members told Ms X the wrong figures for the final care charges.
However, the Council wrote to Ms X to apologise for the confusion and told Ms X it still required further information from her to finalise the interim assessment.
Ms X disputes the Council’s care charges and calculations. She also submitted her own calculations to us.
However, the Council has already invited Ms X to provide further information so it can complete a financial assessment.
It is open to Ms X to contact the Council and check what information it still needs to complete the financial assessment. The Council told Ms X she can make a new complaint if she remains dissatisfied with the outcome of any final assessment.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of significant fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman