Summary: The Council’s fixed charge for short-term residential care was not in line with statutory guidance.

Finding

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice.

Recommendations

We recommend the Council:

• reimburses those people it has already identified as having overcharged based on the figures it already has available; and
• estimates the remaining cases (for people who are still alive) on the basis of financial information currently available to the Council. If this is not possible, offers those people a retrospective financial assessment and calculates any refunds due for those who respond to the Council’s offer. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no need for the Council to take any action for those who do not respond to its offer of a retrospective financial assessment.
• Refunds should be in respect of the period since the Care Act 2014 came into force.

Ombudsman satisfied with Council's response: 07  December 2021.

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