Manchester City Council (04C04804)

Adult care services     Maladministration causing injustice

31 March 2005

The Ombudsman issued a report on the investigation of a complaint about social services for adults against Manchester City Council. She found maladministration causing injustice and the Council agreed to pay the complainant’s additional legal costs plus £100 compensation, and take other administrative actions. The Ombudsman considered that these would provide a satisfactory remedy for the injustice.

‘Mrs Taylor’ (not her real name for legal reasons) complained on behalf of her late mother that the Council had:

• failed to introduce a deferred payment scheme for residential care fees within a reasonable period of time, and 
• placed a charge on her mother’s property without proper notification.

The investigation showed that Mrs Taylor’s complaints were justified. Councils were given powers and funding to introduce a deferred payment scheme in October 2001, but the Council did not do this until three years later because of competing priorities. The Ombudsman considered that some delay was acceptable, but that three years’ delay was not. However, as a scheme would have been unlikely to have been in place in time to benefit Mrs Taylor’s mother even if the Council had introduced one earlier, no injustice had been caused.

The investigation also revealed that the standard letter used by the Council to notify people of its intention to register a charge on a property was insufficiently clear and that this had caused Mrs Taylor to incur additional legal costs. The Council had also incorrectly calculated the fee required to cancel the charge on the property.

Remedy

The Ombudsman found maladministration causing injustice and the Council agreed to:

• pay Mrs Taylor’s additional legal costs of £59.75 and an amount of 95p interest on the overpayment of £441.16
• pay Mrs Taylor £100 compensation for her anxiety, time and trouble in pursuing this matter
• amend its standard letters to make it clear when a charge was being placed on a property, and
• advise service users and relatives of their right to seek legal advice when the imposition of a charge on a property was being considered.

Remedy agreed with Council prior to publication: 31 March 2005

Date Published: 16/08/11