Summary: Mr X complained about the way the Council dealt with care costs for his mother-in-law. The Council was at fault for a delay in applying a credit to the account, failing to respond to a key letter, inconsistent information about invoices and failing to send invoices to Mr X. It should apologise and pay Mr X for the uncertainty and time and trouble caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the way the Council dealt with the care costs for his mother-in-law, Mrs M, after she moved into a care home. The Council agreed to waive some costs after accepting there were errors in the financial assessment but Mr X complained it delayed issuing a credit note. He also said it sent invoices to the wrong address, gave conflicting information about the invoices, and failed to acknowledge receipt of monthly instalments towards the outstanding costs.
2. Mr X was frustrated with the Council’s errors and did not know if it had received the payments he made from March 2019 onwards.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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

5. I considered the information provided by Mr X and the Council, and our guidance on remedies.
6. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

7. The charging rules for residential care are set out in the “Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014”, and the “Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014”. When the Council arranges a care home placement, it has to follow these rules when undertaking a financial assessment to decide how much a person has to pay towards the costs of their residential care.

What happened

8. Mrs M moved into a care home in December 2014. The Council carried out a financial assessment and decided how much she should pay towards the cost of her care.
9. Some time later, Mr and Mrs X raised concerns about the financial assessment. In May 2018, the Council accepted there were errors in the way it calculated Mrs M’s contribution and agreed to waive costs of £20,236.68. This reduced the outstanding costs to £20,943.42.
10. In June 2018 Mr and Mrs X wrote to the Council to ask it to waive further sums totalling £1,620. The Council did not reply. In its response to my enquiries it said the letter was not logged as a new complaint and, although the officer dealing with it did seek guidance from colleagues, they overlooked responding to it.
11. In January 2019 Mr X wrote to the Council asking for:
• an amended invoice that showed the correct balance after the costs were waived in May 2018;
• a response to the letter of June 2018; and
• a further waiver of £7,872.
12. He sent a cheque for £11,540.80, which he said was in full and final settlement of the outstanding costs.
13. The Council responded in February 2019. It apologised for the delay in applying a credit to the account, which it had now done. It did not agree to waive the further sums set out in the letters in June 2018 and January 2019 and explained its reasons. It accepted the cheque but not in full and final settlement. It asked Mr X to pay the remaining balance of £9,492.62 within 10 days. It later agreed to accept instalments of £800 per month.
14. In April 2019, Mr and Mrs X complained about a number of issues with the invoices the Council had sent. Mr X said he had told the Council about a change of address in August 2018. However, he said the invoices in August, September and October 2018 were sent to the old address. He did receive them as he had arranged a Royal Mail redirection. He said he did not receive bills between November 2018 and March 2019. He also said he was told by one team that invoices had been put on hold and by another team that invoices had been sent.
15. The Council apologised for the inconsistent information its officers gave Mr and Mrs X. It said it had sent the invoices from November 2018 to February 2019 by email.
16. Mr X said he paid the agreed instalments from March 2019 but the Council did not acknowledged receipt of these payments. In response to my enquiries the Council said it sent invoices every four weeks, which show any payments on the account. Mr X told me he had not received any invoices since February 2019.

My findings

17. Mr X confirmed he was not complaining about the original errors in the financial assessment as he resolved this with the Council directly. Therefore, I have not investigated the background to the Council’s decision to waive costs in May 2018.
18. The Council accepted there was a delay in applying a credit to the account, which was not done until February 2019. This was fault. It also accepted it failed to respond to the letter in June 2018 as it had not logged it as a new complaint. This was also fault.
19. Mr X said invoices between August and October 2018 were sent to his old address. He said he did not receive invoices between November 2018 and February 2019. I note the Council sent these to him by email in April 2019 after he complained. Mr X started paying instalments of £800 per month in March 2019. He says he has not received any invoices since then.
20. The Council accept it gave him inconsistent advice about sending the invoices. It said invoices were being sent out manually. However, on balance, given that Mr X has not received any invoices for a period of 12 months I am not persuaded the Council actually sent them and this is further fault.
21. The faults identified caused Mr X uncertainty as he was unsure whether the Council had received the payments he made. In response to my enquiries the Council sent me a statement of account that shows it credited £800 per month to the account from March to October 2019.

Recommended action

22. The Council should, within one month of the date of the final decision:
• Apologise to Mr and Mrs X for the delay in applying a credit to the account between May 2018 and February 2019, the failure in responding to their letter in June 2018, the contradictory advice about sending invoices, and the failure to send invoices between November 2018 and October 2019;
• Pay Mr X and Mrs X £150 for the uncertainty caused by these faults, and the time and trouble of pursuing the complaint; and
• Review its processes to ensure that it sends invoices every month in future.
23. The Council may not offset this payment against the amounts still outstanding because it is a payment to them personally for the injustice caused by the Council’s fault.

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Final decision

24. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault leading to personal injustice. I have recommended action to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman