Bournemouth Borough Council (18 016 735)

Category : Adult care services > Charging

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 05 Dec 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: The Council has accepted it caused confusion and anxiety to the complainant for failures in its charging processes. It has agreed to waive historic charges and allocate a specific worker for the complainant to contact. The Council failed to deal with the complainant’s complaint properly and provided confusing and conflicting information which added to her anxiety. The Council has agreed to apoloigse for these failures and make procedural changes.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs C, complains on behalf of her husband, whom I refer to as Mr C. Mrs C complains the Council failed to explain and charge correctly for Mr C’s care services. It has also failed to deal with her complaint properly or consider the personal difficulties she has in communicating with it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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)
  2. 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)
  3. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I looked at information Mrs C provided and asked for information from the Council. I applied the relevant legislation, government guidance and local policy when considering the complaint.
  2. I have written to Mrs C and the Council with my draft decision and given them an opportunity to comment.

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What I found

What should have happened

  1. Councils can make charges for care and support services they provide or arrange. Charges may only cover the cost the council incurs. (Care Act 2014, section 14)
  2. The Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014 sets out what people should expect from councils. It says that as well as making reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people have equal access to information and advice services it should also make advice and information, where possible, available in a person’s preferred format. This can include a preference for face to face meetings or using an advocate.
  3. Paragraph 3.43 says councils, “must provide information to help people understand what they may have to pay, when and why and how it relates to people’s individual circumstances.”
  4. The Local Authority Social Services and NHS Complaints Regulations 2009, sets out how councils should consider complaints. It says Council should investigate complaints, so they are resolved speedily and efficiently.

What happened

  1. Mr C is supported in the community by Mrs C and a care agency. In addition to this he has regular respite in a care home. Mr C initially funded his own care but after his funds reached the required threshold started to receive support from the Council.
  2. Mr C had to pay a charge to the Council for services he received. In 2017 the Council sent a cheque to Mr C for £1378.93 as he had overpaid the Council. The cheque was not cashed and expired. The Council says that sometime later Mrs C asked the Council to reissue the cheque. This was completed by the revenues department. Unfortunately, this department was unaware that during the interim period the charging department had offset the amount in the cheque against other outstanding invoices. This resulted in Mr C owing a debt to the Council.
  3. Since 2017 Mrs C has tried to establish how Mr C’s debt has accrued. This has been complicated by:-
    • the Council continuing to issue invoices for following periods;
    • Mrs C part paying some invoices and not others;
    • further overpayments by Mr C due to a change in circumstances and invoicing “errors” by the Council.
  4. Mrs C has made many attempts to try and clarify the charges and at one point used a solicitor to contact the Council. The Council has responded to Mrs C’s complaint and provided some information. However, this information was sometimes inconsistent and did not make sense of the outstanding charges.
  5. Mrs C has a hearing impairment and prefers communication via email. The Council says it has tried to allocate one officer to liaise with Mrs C to try and support her. It says it has also encouraged Mrs C to get support from Age UK.

Is there fault causing injustice?

  1. The Council has provided confusing and conflicting information to Mrs C about Mr C’s charges. It also made an error in reissuing a cheque for money the Council had already applied to other outstanding invoices. This is not in line with the statutory guidance and has caused Mrs C confusion and anxiety.
  2. The Council has accepted the charges have been confusing for Mrs C. In response to my enquiries it has agreed to waive the historical outstanding charges of £1355.25.
  3. The only remaining charge is for recent services which the Council invoiced on 1 October 2019. Mrs C has no complaints relating to charges for this period.
  4. The Council has also agreed to allocate a specific worker to liaise with Mrs C to support her with any future queries about her invoices.
  5. There is fault in the way the Council dealt with Mrs C’s complaint. The initial response to Mrs C’s complaint lodged by her solicitor was incomplete and failed to address all the questions asked. Subsequent letters raised further inconsistencies and caused Mrs C more confusion.

Agreed action

  1. I have found fault in the actions of the Council. The Council has agreed to take the following actions to remedy the complaint:-
      1. apologise to Mrs C for the failures I have identified and the distress this has caused her;
      2. write to Mrs C setting out a named person that she should speak to about charges;
      3. remind staff about the timescales involved in complaint handling and, to as far as possible, provide full responses at the earliest opportunity;
      4. review processes so the revenues and charging departments are working in partnership to avoid duplication cheques and confusion;
      5. review invoicing procedures to look at how invoices are written, and payments reflected to avoid confusion.
  2. The Council has agreed to complete (a) and (b) within one month of the final decision, and (c) to (e) within three months of the final decision.

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Final decision

  1. There was fault in the actions of the Council which caused Mrs C injustice. I consider the agreed actions above are appropriate to remedy the complaint and have closed the complaint on this basis.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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