Summary: The Council was at fault for delays in arranging funding for Mr B’s residential care. This meant his savings were depleted and he built up a large debt with the care home. The Council has now paid the debt and reinstated Mr B’s savings. It has also agreed that a senior manager will investigate and brief staff on the Council’s failings in this case, and it has agreed to pay Mr B’s son-in-law £250 to recognise the time he spent on the complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr B, lives in residential care, and paid for his own care until October 2020, when his savings were reduced to just above £23,250 (the threshold at which people are entitled to help with the cost of care from their local council). At that point his daughter made an application to the Council for care funding.
2. Mr B’s complaint is made on his behalf by his son-in-law, whom I refer to as Mr C.
3. Mr C says the Council failed to allocate a social worker to the case until February 2021, and had still made no progress by May 2021. He says he complained, and the Council accepted fault for the delay, but still did nothing for a further six months.
4. Mr C made a further complaint in November 2021 but – at the point of complaining to the Ombudsman in December 2021 – he had received no response.
5. Mr C says Mr B’s money ran out completely in June 2021, which meant he had been unable to pay his £5,800 monthly care fees.
6. Mr C also says dealing with this matter caused him (Mr C) distress and inconvenience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

7. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
8. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered information from Mr C and the Council. Both parties had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

10. The Council has already accepted fault for its delay in allocating a social worker to Mr B’s case, and for its failure to properly communicate with the family during the period of delay.
11. Furthermore, since Mr C approached the Ombudsman, the Council has sorted out the issue with Mr B’s finances. It has reinstated his savings up to £14,250 (which is the threshold below which someone should not have to use their savings to pay for their care). It has also paid the outstanding debt to the care home.
12. This means the injustice to Mr B – who has dementia, and therefore was not aware of the problems with his funding – has been fully remedied.
13. However, there remains unremedied injustice to Mr C, who spent a long time trying to persuade the Council to sort things out. It is also still unclear exactly why this issue went on for so long without the Council making the necessary funding arrangements.
14. The Council says it has referred the matter to a senior manager to investigate and to establish what happened in Mr B’s case. When the manager has reached conclusions, they will brief all relevant staff on the lessons to be learned.
15. The Council has also offered a payment of £250 to recognise the time Mr C took to deal with the complaint.
16. These are suitable remedies. The Council should also write to Mr C and explain the findings of its investigation when it is complete.

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Agreed actions

17. The Council has agreed that, within six weeks of this decision, it will make a payment of £250 to recognise the time Mr C spent dealing with Mr B’s complaint.
18. The Council has also agreed that, within three months of this decision, it will investigate what happened in Mr B’s case, brief staff on the findings of its investigation, and write to Mr C to explain its findings.

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Final decision

19. The Council was at fault for delays in arranging funding for Mr B’s care. The agreed actions remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman