Derbyshire County Council (02C14235 and three others)

Adult care services                      Maladministration causing injustice

24 June 2004

Complaints were made by a local law centre on behalf of four of its clients. Two of them were concerned about the introduction of charges for care in their homes. The other two were concerned about the withdrawal of services.

The Ombudsman found maladministration leading to injustice in all four complaints. Where the introduction of charges was contemplated then the Council’s policy was to offer a right of review. It had clearly failed to do so in the first two cases referred to above, and had also failed to consult service users properly before introducing a new policy on charging.

In the second pair of cases, where services were withdrawn, the Council was unable to show that it had first of all carried out proper assessments of what care was needed. Nor were the two complainants properly advised of the Council’s decision to withdraw services, the reasons for those decisions or of their right to seek a review.

The Ombudsman concluded that, as a result of maladministration, all four complainants had lost services to which they were entitled.

The Ombudsman found maladministration causing injustice. The Council had commendably accepted fault and agreed to compensate the complainants according to their losses. Compensation totalling over £2,000 was paid and the Council also agreed to take action to avoid similar problems in future. The Ombudsman was satisfied with that response and called for no further action.

Date Published: 08/11/10