Summary: Mrs X complained about care home charges for her mother, Mrs Z. The complaint relates to a period from November 2018 when the Council took over funding for the placement. Mrs X says the failure of the Council and the Care Home to come to an agreement about the costs caused stress and uncertainty and ultimately resulted in the home giving Mrs Z notice to leave and having to move to a new home.

Finding

The Ombdusman up[held the complaint and found fault causing injustice.

Recommendations

The Council has agreed to:

• complete a new financial assessment for Mrs Z from November 2018. This financial assessment should take into account that she had paid in advance for the care home and so this money should be included when calculating the level of capital held in November 2018. If the Council finds that Mrs Z’s savings fell below the savings threshold in 2018 and that she was eligible for financial assistance, it should refund any money owed to her estate;
• pay Mrs X £250 to recognise the avoidable distress and time and trouble she experienced as a result of having to find and move Mrs Z to a new care home;
• provide a written apology to Mrs X;
• review its procedures around the transition from self-funded to Council funded care to ensure similar problems do not occur again. This should include clear guidance on how to negotiate with care providers when there is a dispute over funding levels; and
• ensure all staff are aware of the requirements to carry out a risk assessment where there are funding issues and a service user may need to move to a new placement.

The Care Home has agreed to:

• provide a written apology to Mrs X;
• pay Mrs X £250 to recognise the avoidable distress and time and trouble she experienced as a result of having to find and move Mrs Z to a new care home; and
• review the terms and conditions of its contracts to cover the circumstances where a resident becomes eligible for council funding to prevent similar problems recurring.

Ombudsman satisfied with council's response: 7 October 2021.

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