Summary: Ms X complains the Council delayed in seeking payment of her son’s care contributions, causing financial difficulty and distress. The Ombudsman finds no fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council delayed seeking payment of her son’s care contributions, causing a large debt to build up. Ms X says her son, Mr Y, will face financial difficulty paying the debt and she has suffered stress.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I spoke to Ms X and I reviewed documents provided by Ms X and the Council. I gave Ms X and the Council the chance to comment on a draft of this decision and I considered any comments provided.

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What I found

Information on care charges

5. The Department for Health and Social Care publishes statutory guidance on the Care Act 2014 which councils must follow. This is available online.
6. A council carries out a care needs assessment to decide whether an individual has care needs that it is must meet. It then completes a care and support plan which sets out how it will meet those needs.
7. The amount the council expects it will cost to meet an individual’s assessed needs is called the personal budget.
8. The council carries out a financial assessment to see how much an individual will contribute towards their personal budget. This amount is called a client contribution. The council will pay the remaining costs.
9. When carrying out a financial assessment a council must take into account both capital and income. This means the council will look at how much money a person has and how much they receive in income. Income can include benefits.
10. A council must regularly reassess a person’s ability to meet the cost of any charges to take account of any changes to their resources. This is likely to be on an annual basis, but may vary according to individual circumstances. However, this should take place if there is a change in circumstance or at the request of the person.
11. Where a person has accrued a debt, the council may use its powers under the Care Act to recover that debt. In deciding how to proceed, the council should consider the circumstances of the case. For example, a council should consider whether this was a deliberate avoidance of payment or due to circumstances beyond the person’s control.

Contacting the council

12. The Council publishes details of how to contact it on its website. I note it has separate contact numbers and online forms for each department. There is nothing to suggest information given to one department will be shared with another.
13. The Council’s website also has a section to notify an address change. This provides links to some of the services a person may want to notify. I note there is not one central number or link for all Council services. There is nothing to suggest a person need only notify one department and that the Council will then share this information throughout.

What happened

14. Ms X manages her son’s affairs as he is unable to do so himself due to his disability.
15. In September 2015 the Council carried out a financial assessment for Mr Y and found he did not have to pay any contribution towards his care costs. Mr Y had just turned 18 and did not receive any benefits. The Council sent a letter to Mr Y, care of Ms X, to inform him of the outcome of his assessment. The letter said he should tell the Council if there are any changes to the benefits he receives in future and the date of any change. I note this letter was sent to Address A.
16. Ms X says she moved house, from Address A to Address B, in September 2018.
17. The Council says, in May 2019, it checked with the Department for Work and Pensions and found Mr Y had received benefits since April 2017. The Council says neither Mr Y nor Ms X told it of this change in circumstance previously. The Council says it decided to seek care contributions from Mr Y dating from April 2019 only, so as not to create a debt Mr Y would be unable to repay. The Council says it sent further communications, including the financial reassessment and invoices to Address A.
18. As the Council did not receive payment it started debt recovery action and then asked a tracing agent to locate Ms X. It then found she was at Address B.
19. In October 2019 Ms X complained to the Council she had now received invoices totalling £2485 that her son could not afford to pay as he had already spent his income over that period. Ms X said she had told the Council when she moved to Address B, she had a 3 month redirection in place at Address A and, she had received correspondence from other Council departments to Address B. Ms X said the Council should therefore have sent invoices and other correspondence to Address B.
20. The Council responded to Ms X to explain why it was seeking contributions from Mr Y dating from April 2019. It said no one in its Adult Social Care department was aware Ms X had moved to Address B. It explained it did not automatically share information given to other departments and it would only have shared an address change with her specific consent. The Council said it sent all correspondence to the address on file and there was no reason to waive the debt. However, it offered to discuss a repayment plan.
21. When I spoke to Ms X she explained a social worker knew she was moving home in 2018 as they supported her with her housing application. She said she had email evidence of this. Ms X also said Mr Y had spent his income on clothing, activities and travelling home for visits. However, she had since agreed a repayment plan with the Council.
22. I have reviewed emails provided by Ms X and note the following:
• In August and September 2018 Ms X liaised with the Council’s housing team as they were assisting her in a mutual exchange.
• In October and November 2018 Ms X exchanged emails with a social worker. I note there is no mention of a change of address in these emails.

Findings

23. It is not in dispute the Council was unaware of Mr Y’s change in circumstances until May 2019.
24. The Council says it sent a financial reassessment and invoices to Address A from May 2019. However, Ms X says the Council should have sent these to Address B. She says the CounciI’s failure to do so meant there was a delay in it seeking payment of care contributions from Mr Y. I must therefore consider whether the Council was at fault for sending documents to Address A.
25. The Council’s Adult Social Care (“ASC”) department held Address A on file until such time as Ms X told it of a new address.
26. The information on the Council’s website suggests people need to contact the relevant Council department for any issue. There is nothing to suggest the Council will share information across departments.
27. The Council’s ASC department says it was unaware Ms X moved to Address B. I have not seen any evidence Ms X told any person in the Council’s ASC department she had moved to Address B and so it should update her contact address. I have also not seen any evidence Ms X told anyone else at the Council that the ASC department should update her contact details to Address B.
28. The Council’s housing team were assisting Ms X and knew she was moving home in September 2018. However, I have not seen any evidence Ms X told the housing team to start using Address B for contact purposes or, told the housing team to update her address on file for other Council services.
29. Ms X says a social worker from the ASC department supported her housing application. However, I have not seen any evidence the social worker knew when Ms X had moved or, any evidence Ms X told the social worker to send future correspondence to Address B.
30. I acknowledge Ms X says she received correspondence from other Council departments to Address B. However, this does not mean the ASC department knew or should have known to send correspondence to Address B.
31. I note Ms X had a mail redirection in place for three months after leaving Address A. However, this would not have been in place in May 2019, when the Council continued to send correspondence to Address A.
32. Having considered the circumstances of this case, I find Ms X did not tell the Council’s ASC department she had moved to Address B. Therefore, the Council acted correctly in sending documents and invoices to Address A. It did not delay seeking payment of care contributions and it is not at fault.

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Final decision

33. I find no fault in the Council’s handling of Mr Y’s account; it did not delay in seeking payment for care contributions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman