Summary: Mrs B, complains for her elderly mother Mrs C about how the Council dealt with financial matters associated with the estate of a relative. The Ombudsman finds there was fault by the Council in this matter, leading to injustice for Mrs C for which a remedy has been agreed.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs B, complains on behalf of her elderly mother Mrs C about how the Council dealt with financial matters associated with the estate of a relative, Mrs D, after she died. Mrs C has responsibility for administration of the estate. She also complains about how the Council dealt with the family’s contact about the matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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

4. I considered all the information provided by Mrs B about the complaint. I made written enquiries of the Council and took account of the information it provided in reply. I provided Mrs B and the Council with a draft of this decision and gave them the opportunity to comment on it.

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What I found

Background

5. Mrs D was resident in a care home. She had lacked mental capacity to make decisions for herself and so in 2014 the Court of Protection had granted deputyship for her property and financial affairs to the Council. Mrs D passed away on 10 March 2018, and Mrs C became responsible for the administration of her estate. Probate Registry estimated the value of the estate at not exceeding £325,000 gross value and not exceeding £21,000 net value.
6. At the time of Mrs D’s death, Mrs C believed the value of monies held by the Council for Mrs D to be between £20,000 and £23,000.

What happened next

7. Mrs D had a bank account with Allied Irish Bank (AIB). At the date of death, the sum held in this account was £13,372.21. Transactions on this account after the date of death were credits totalling £1,167.24 for state and private pensions and debits totalling £3395.73 for care fees to the date of death and the expenses of the funeral and wake.
8. That left a balance in that account of £11,143.72. The Council transferred this sum to Mrs C on 20 November 2018.

The second bank account

9. Mrs D had a second bank account, with National Savings and Investments (NS&I). The sum in this account at the date of Mrs D’s death was £10,52.92.

Administration of the two bank accounts

10. The account with AIB was opened and held under the Council’s umbrella. However, the account with NSI was different. Once Mrs D had passed away, the Council no longer had legal authority to act on her behalf insofar as that account was concerned and the bank could not act on any instruction from it. Responsibility for that account passed to Mrs C as she was dealing with the estate, in accordance with probate.
11. The Council has confirmed that NS&I require probate in order to close the account. On 17 April 2018 the Council wrote to NS&I notifying it that Mrs D had passed away on 10 March and advising that Mrs C was dealing with the estate, and it included Mrs C’s contact telephone number. The letter said it had advised Mrs C to apply for probate and that it would forward the NS&I details to her so she could forward the Letter of Administration once she had it.
12. I will return to this matter later in this statement.

Communications with the Council

13. In mid-August 2018 Mrs C contacted the Council to say she now had the probate document. The Council advised her to send in an original copy of this with a covering letter, including details of where the payment of any sum due to the estate should be made. The Council had not received this by the first week in September and so contacted Mrs C and asked her to scan and send the documents. By 13 September the Council still did not have the documents and Mrs C was advised accordingly. Scanned copies were then received but were illegible and at the beginning of October the Council asked for a clearer copy in addition to further documentation.
14. Mrs B complained to the Council on Mrs C’s behalf on 14 October 2018. A reply was issued on 19 October. The Council said having reviewed the matter it did not need all the documents requested but did still need an original copy of the probate document and the details of where any funds should be paid to. It apologised for having previously asked for too many documents, and for any delays in responding to correspondence and telephone calls.
15. A further exchange of emails between Mrs B and the Council followed. Mrs B asked the Council about any interest accrued on Mrs D’s funds, and she asked the Council to check the final invoice for Mrs D’s care as this showed fees beyond the date on which she had passed away, up to 31 March. The Council arranged a credit to the account for the period 11 to 31 March 2018 and advised Mrs B of this on 6 November. It did not however respond to her question about any interest accrued on Mrs D’s funds.
16. Mrs B sent a further email to the Council on 26 November, asking for a fresh invoice to be issued showing credits. She also repeated her query about interest.
17. On 10 December Mrs B sent a further email to the Council. She said that ‘only a proportion of the monies’ held for Mrs D had been transferred (referring to £11,143.72 paid on 20 November) and repeated her request for an adjusted invoice. She also asked the Council for a full statement setting out all transactions.

Analysis

18. When the Council wrote to NS&I on 17 April it said it would provide Mrs C with the bank’s details so she could send on the probate document once received. But the evidence so far seen does not show that the Council advised Mrs C at any point that there was a second account held for Mrs D, with the NS&I. The Council says that as the probate document showed an estate value of at least £21,000 this meant that Mrs C knew there were two accounts. But that is not necessarily the case: Mrs C’s understanding was that the Council was administering Mrs D’s accounts and as she had only received £11,143.72, that apparently left about £10,000 unaccounted for. The failure to advise Mrs C about the NS&I account was fault, and the Council had a further opportunity to note this query when the family referred to only having received a proportion of the expected funds.
19. There was further fault by the Council in its communications with the family. It was asked several times why there was no interest on funds accrued. The Council has now explained that the AIB account was an umbrella account used by it for all deputyships and appointeeships and this accrues no interest, or bank charges. The NS&I account accrues interest, but as noted above Mrs C was not told about this account. The family’s request for a full statement of account for Mrs D was not responded to either and no explanation had been provided for this failing.
20. The faults identified above led to injustice for Mrs C. As the person responsible for administering her late relative’s estate, Mrs C naturally wished to have financial matters promptly and properly dealt with. The Council’s action caused her some frustration and meant that she was put to some unnecessary time and trouble seeking to resolve matters.

Agreed action

21. To remedy the injustice described above, I recommended that within four weeks of the date of the decision on this complaint the Council:

• Issues Mrs C with a formal written apology;
• Issues a fresh invoice for any sums deemed still outstanding, to include a clear explanation of what the charges are for; and
• Pays Mrs C £250.

22. The Council has agreed to my recommendations.

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Final decision

23. I have completed my investigation on the basis set out above.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman