Summary: Mrs F complains the Council failed to deal properly with the assessment of Mrs H’s finances. The Council accepts Mrs F did not receive an acceptable level of customer service and has apologised. It also needs to pay financial redress and consider what action it needs to take to prevent similar problems from happening again.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs F, complains the Council failed to deal properly with its assessment of Mrs H’s finances.

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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, sections 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mrs F;
• discussed the complaint with Mrs F;
• considered the documents the Council has provided; and
• shared a draft of this statement with Mrs F and the Council, and invited comments for me to consider before making my final decision.

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What I found

5. Mrs F’s friend, Mrs H, was living in a care home in March 2017 when her husband died. He had been her power of attorney for property and affairs but Mrs F took over that role after his death. Mr H had been living at home in a property the Council had disregarded when it previously assessed Mrs H’s finances. Mrs F was Mr H’s executor. Mrs F sold their home and bought a funeral plan for Mrs H.
6. The Council contacted Mrs F in September 2017 about updating Mrs H’s financial assessment, after it learned her husband had died. Mrs F told the Council Mrs H had died a few days earlier. Mrs F was the executor of her estate.
7. The Council asked for copies of bank statements and other documents, which Mrs F sent on 5 November attached to an e-mail. On 20 December the Council told Mrs F it could not open the attachment to her e-mail. Mrs F resent them in a different format the same day and the Council confirmed receipt.
8. Mrs F e-mailed the Council on 9 April 2018, as she had not heard anything. The Council apologised and said it would contact her by the end of the week.
9. The Council e-mailed Mrs F on 13 April, saying Mrs H’s estate owed £8,540. She called the Council to question this sum, as it did not take account of Mrs H’s costs and bills. She says the Council referred her to the Care Act and the Care and Support Statutory Guidance, when she asked how it had worked out the charges.
10. Mrs F complained to the Council on 11 May. She suggested the Council write off the charges as creditors have six months to make a claim on an estate when told of a death.
11. The Council replied to Mrs F’s complaint on 26 June. It said it could not address her concerns about the bill for £8,540 as it would address that issue via a separate appeals process. It said this would take account of her concerns about costs and bills which it should have considered. It asked her to send copies of receipts. It said the Charging Assessment Team contacted her as soon as it found out about the change in Mrs H’s circumstances. However, it apologised for the delay in completing the financial assessment. It said it made every effort to complete assessments in a timely manner but accepted this did not happen with Mrs H’s assessment.
12. On 14 August the Council wrote to Mrs F with the outcome of her appeal over Mrs H’s financial assessment. It said her estate owed £4,661.66 and explained in detail how it worked this out. It:
• disregarded the property for 12 weeks after Mr H’s death;
• allowed for expenses relating to the property;
• disregarded costs relating to Mr H’s death (e.g. debts, solicitor and funeral);
• treated Mrs H as a full-cost payer for 41 days after the first 12 weeks;
• helped fund the placement after that, charging tariff income on capital between £14,250 and £23,250.
13. The Council said it could not take account of gifts Mrs H had made or the cost of buying a funeral plan for Mrs H. It said this money would have to come out of her disregarded capital, as it had been Mrs H’s choice to spend it in this way. Mrs F paid the bill so she could settle Mrs H’s estate.
14. Mrs F is aggrieved that the Council never gave her any information or advice about the options for paying for care, as required by the Care and Support Statutory Guidance.

Is there evidence of fault by the Council which caused injustice?

15. The Council should have known of Mr H’s death before September 2017, not least because his wife was living in a care home it was funding. By the time it learned of Mr H’s death there was no meaningful information or advice the Council could give Mrs F about the options for paying for care. The only issue to resolve was how much Mrs H’s estate needed to pay.
16. There is no dispute over the fact the Council took too long to tell Mrs F what she needed to pay from Mrs H’s estate. That was fault by the Council. It was also left to Mrs F to chase the Council. This was a difficult time for her when she was dealing with the death of her friend and fulfilling her responsibilities as her executor. The Council also failed to take account of the money Mrs H had already paid, resulting in it asking for too much money and Mrs F having to appeal against its decision.
17. The Council’s faults caused unnecessary distress to Mrs F and put her to the time and trouble of pursuing her complaint. It needs to apologise for this and pay financial redress. It also needs to consider what action it can take to prevent similar problems from happening again.

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Agreed action

18. I recommended the Council:
• within four weeks, apologises again to Mrs F and pays her £250 for the distress it has caused and the time and trouble it has put her to in pursuing her complaint; and
• within eight weeks, considers what action it needs to take to ensure it is informed about the death of a partner more quickly (e.g. getting care homes to do this) and there are no significant delays in completing financial assessments.

The Council has agreed to do this.

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Final decision

19. I have completed my investigation, as the Council has agreed to take action which will remedy the injustice it has caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman