Lancashire County Council (19 019 371)

Statement Upheld Charging 02-Mar-2021

Summary: The Council failed to communicate properly with the late Mrs X. Officers wrote to her at the wrong address and telephoned her when she could no longer speak. Its actions caused significant distress in Mrs X’s last months, and the Council will now apologise to her daughter Ms Y, review its processes and offer a sum in recognition of the distress.

Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited (19 021 105)

Statement Upheld Residential care 02-Mar-2021

Summary: The Care Provider failed to properly communicate with Ms X about the breakdown of a heating boiler at a care home her parents resided in. It acknowledged it could have dealt with her enquiries about this, and subsequent complaints better.

Northumberland County Council (20 001 884)

Statement Not upheld Direct payments 02-Mar-2021

Summary: Mr C complained the Council has failed to increase Mr X’s Personal Budget along with inflations, as a result of which he does not receive enough money anymore to meet his needs. We found the Council identified the correct steps to resolve the issue, which was a reassessment of Mr X’s needs. As such, we discontinued our investigation because nothing further could be achieved for Mr X.

Isle of Wight Council (20 006 407)

Statement Not upheld Charging 02-Mar-2021

Summary: There is evidence to show Mr and Mrs X agreed to Mr X’s discharge to a care home while Mrs X had surgery, and that the Council gave them proper information about the financial implications.

London Borough of Wandsworth (20 010 686)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Transport 02-Mar-2021

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an application for a Blue Badge because it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council.

London Borough of Hillingdon (20 002 529)

Statement Not upheld Charging 01-Mar-2021

Summary: Miss X complained the Council refused to backdate her late mother’s financial assessment to disregard her property. The Council was not at fault. It carried out Mrs F’s financial assessment without fault when it decided not to disregard her property in 2018. The Council disregarded the property from December 2019 onwards after Miss X provided it with new information. However, there was no obligation for the Council to backdate this to 2018.

Lancashire County Council (19 009 821)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 01-Mar-2021

Summary: Mr X complained the Council reassessed his care needs and reduced his personal budget. The Council was not at fault for the way in which it assessed Mr X’s needs. It was at fault for allowing the situation to drift when Mr X refused to cooperate in developing a revised support plan. This did not cause Mr X an injustice as his personal budget was not reduced.

Milton Keynes Council (20 001 041)

Statement Upheld Covid-19 01-Mar-2021

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has failed to meet his son’s care needs since shortly after the country went into lockdown because of COVID-19. The Council was at fault for telling Mr X it would be able to reinstate his son’s pre-COVID-19 respite care when that was not possible. The Council needs to apologise and recognise the lack of trust this caused.

London Borough Of Barnet (20 007 509)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Transport 01-Mar-2021

Summary: We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about the Council’s delay in considering her appeal for a blue badge. This is because the Council has now considered Ms B’s appeal and decided she should be awarded a blue badge. We could not achieve any more than this.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (20 002 876)

Statement Upheld Charging 26-Feb-2021

Summary: Mr B complained about the way the Council tried to collect outstanding residential care charges following the death of his father (Mr C) in January 2019. We found the Council delayed in providing accurate and clear information about the outstanding charges. The Council has agreed to pay Mr B £300 which can be offset against the outstanding charges.