Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council has charged Mr X’s mother for her care and support. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the way the Council has charged his mother for her care calls. He says his mother should have received 30-minute calls, but the carers did not stay for the full time. He says the Council did not tell them the call time would include travel time for the carers. He says the Council has charged his mother for the full 30 minutes.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault causing an injustice. This is because there is no evidence to suggest the Council explained to Mrs X, or her family, how the calls would be charged or that the call period would include the travel time of the carers.
6. The Council says it contracts a minimum of 30 minutes of care. However, this information was not provided to Mrs X or her family to help them understand how the care calls would be charged.
7. It is accepted there is normally some variance to call times and that it is more relevant to consider whether the care tasks have been completed to an acceptable standard. In this case, I note several of the call records do note that all tasks have been completed and this is why carers have left before the 30 minutes. Therefore, I consider it is likely, on balance, Mrs X’s identified care needs were met.
8. However, I am satisfied the lack of information provided by the Council to explain how it would charge for the care calls I likely to have caused some frustration. This is especially because the available call logs show most calls made to Mrs X were under 30 minutes in duration.
9. We therefore asked the Council to remedy this by making a symbolic payment of £200.

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Agreed action

10. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within four weeks of the final decision.

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Final decision

11. We have upheld Mr X’s complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman