Summary

The council failed to provide a lady with appropriate 24 hour care in a timely manner. This resulted in her husband having to leave work to care for her.

The complaint

The council failed to provide a lady with appropriate 24 hour care in a timely manner. This resulted in her husband having to leave work to care for her.

Finding

The Ombudsman found fault causing injustice.

Recommendatioms

The Ombudsman recommends that the council:

• makes payment of £61,270 in recognition of the care the husband provided which was not funded by the Council at the appropriate time;
• provides an apology to both the husband & wife about the time that it has taken to deal with the complaint;
• reviews its procedures for complaint handling in light of comments made in this report; and
• pays the wife £1000 for the time and trouble in making the complaint and the further delay in obtaining the remedy.

Further report

On 13 January 2014 we issued a further report into Shropshire Council after the council didn't accept the recommendation to pay the £61,270. We considered the council's arguments for not complying but asked it to reconsider its position on the recommended financial remedy.

Statement of non-compliance

The action taken by the council following consideration of our reports was not satisfactory. We therefore served a notice requiring the council to publish a statement (in accordance with the Local Government Act 1974) in two editions of a newspaper on a news page. The council published this statement in the Shropshire Star on 23 and 29 December 2014.

The Ombudsman remained unsatisfied with the council's response following the publication of the statement.

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