Summary

Mr X complained about his father’s (Mr Y's) care charges. He says he would not have agreed to the care had the Council made it clear what the cost would be.

The complaint

Mr X complained about the information provided to him and his father about the fees the family would have to pay when Mr Y was discharged from hospital into intermediate care. This meant the family was unclear about what they should pay and to whom. 

Decision

The Ombudsman has upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice.

Recommendations

To remedy the injustice caused the Council has agreed to:

• apologise to Mr Y and Mr X for the injustice they have suffered as a result of the Council charging for intermediate care;
• send Mr Y a payment of £722.40. This is to recognise the financial loss he suffered by paying the Care Home six weeks of intermediate care fees he should not have paid; and
• reduce the invoice payable to the Council by £1,887.00 to recognise the additional financial injustice caused to Mr Y by the Council wrongly backdating the full cost of care for six weeks of intermediate care.
• review its adult social care charging policy and procedures to ensure they are compliant with the Care Act, specifically addressing charging for enablement care. The Council has agreed to this and says it will issue an intermediate care policy to clearly distinguish between intermediate care and enablement;
• notify staff in the relevant Social Care teams and the Financial Assessments and Benefits Team of policy and procedural changes and circulate the new policy and procedures; 

We also recommend the Council should:

• identify any adults who have received ‘enablement’ care since April 2015, who, like Mr Y, should have been entitled to free intermediate care. The Council should write to those affected, or where necessary a suitable representative, and arrange to refund their costs for the first six weeks of their enablement package. The Council has not yet agreed to this recommendation.

Ombudsman satisfied with Council's response: 27 July 2018

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