The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council included a loan from the bank as savings in a care assessment. We have not seen enough evidence of fault to justify a further investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X complained the Council ignored her evidence that a loan she got from the bank can only be used for house repairs.
She said her continuing health issues have caused delays in getting the house repairs started, but the Council also ignored this.
Mrs X said the Council should consider her health issues and let her use the loan to pay for repairs because she cannot use the loan to pay for care services.
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 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 Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate Mrs X complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of fault with the Council’s actions to justify a further investigation.
The Council followed the relevant statutory guidance in its decision to include her share of the repairs loan as savings in the care assessment of 2025.
Since 2021, Mrs X has jointly held a repairs loan with her husband. She was assessed for care services in 2023 and 2024, but the Council advised Mrs X it only became aware of the loan in 2025. It therefore did include it in the care assessments of 2023 and 2024.
The Council said it decided to include her share of the loan in 2025 because the statutory guidance and the Care Act 2014 require it to include her loan as savings in a care assessment.
The Council also explained Mrs X had already benefitted from the 26-week disregard period set out in the statutory guidance.
We note the Council recognised Mrs X’s heath issues. However, it said it considers that as Mrs X received the loan in 2021, she has had sufficient time to organise the repairs with the support of her husband.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of fault with the Council’s actions to justify a further investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman