Lincolnshire County Council (21 009 526)

Statement Upheld Charging 27-Mar-2022

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to inform her of the change in charges to respite care for her husband. She had paid the flat rate to the care home directly but later received a bill for double the amount. Mrs X complained to the Council but there was a delay in their response. We find fault with the Council for delay and miscommunication. This fault has caused Mrs X distress and frustration and we recommend a payment in remedy.

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (21 001 819)

Statement Upheld Charging 27-Mar-2022

Summary: Mr X complained the Council reduced his direct payments following a review it carried out in 2018 without giving proper reasons for doing so. Mr X said this caused him distress and negatively affected his standard of living. Based on the evidence there was no fault in the Council’s initial decision to reduce Mr X’s care package. There was fault in the Council’s delay carrying out Mr X’s 2019 needs review however, this did not cause Mr X a significant injustice.

London Borough of Lambeth (21 006 556)

Statement Upheld Charging 24-Mar-2022

Summary: Miss F complains the Council has failed to accurately assess her brother’s (Mr D) financial contributions for residential care. She also says the Council has not provided accurate and timely information relating to Mr D’s care invoices and reviews. We have identified numerous and serious failings by the Council which demonstrate poor administrative practice. In particular, the Council delayed by three years in completing a financial assessment to establish Mr D’s care contributions. It also failed to provide accurate and timely invoices to Miss F, send her care reviews and address matters during its own complaints procedure. These failings caused Miss F and Mr D a significant and personal injustice and the Council has agreed to remedy this.

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (21 017 481)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Charging 23-Mar-2022

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to top-up payments. That is because the complaint is late.

Lincolnshire County Council (21 018 304)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Charging 22-Mar-2022

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Councils decision to charge the complainants son for a contribution towards the cost of his care. This is because there is insufficient fault in how the Council carried out its assessment.

Hampshire County Council (21 016 777)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Charging 21-Mar-2022

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council underfunded his mother’s residential care home placement over a decade ago. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are not good grounds to exercise discretion to consider this very late complaint now.

Warrington Council (21 002 302)

Statement Upheld Charging 18-Mar-2022

Summary: Mr D complained about incorrect advice the Council gave his mother about emergency COVID-19 charging rules. The Council said it would fund a respite placement for his father. It later realised this was wrong advice but did not honour its promise. It also did not stop the placement when his father left the care home. We have decided there is evidence of fault causing distress. But we cannot recommend the Council waives all the fees.

London Borough of Harrow (21 005 805)

Statement Not upheld Charging 17-Mar-2022

Summary: We have ended our investigation into Mr X’s complaints as any further investigation is unlikely to have a worthwhile outcome, and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking. In addition, Mr X could have complained to us earlier if he was unhappy with the way the Council calculated care costs.

Leicestershire County Council (21 011 203)

Statement Upheld Charging 17-Mar-2022

Summary: Mr X complained, on behalf of his grandmother Mrs Y, about the Council’s failure to provide information on care home charges, poor communication and delay. We found the Council at fault. We recommended it apologise to Mrs Y, pay £200 for distress and act to prevent recurrence.

Northumberland County Council (21 016 768)

Statement Upheld Charging 15-Mar-2022

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions regarding Miss X’s late father when he was in care. This is because the Council has already provided a remedy for the injustice caused to the family which goes beyond what we would usually recommend. Therefore there is nothing further we can achieve from an investigation of this complaint.