Summary: Mr X complained the Council had failed to assess his finances properly, resulting in a delay in funding his care.

Finding

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint finding fault causing iunjustice.

Recommendations

The Council has agreed to:

• write to Mrs X and Mr Y apologising for its failings;
• pay £6,941 to Mr X’s estate to reinstate his capital to £23,250; and
• pay Mr Y £250 for the time and trouble it has put him to in pursuing the complaint.

We also recommend the Council within three months of the date of this report:

• takes action to make sure it disregards 50% of occupational pensions when they are being paid to a spouse or civil partner for maintenance (for example, by amending its policy and training officers) and provides evidence it has done this;
• takes action to ensure it does not restrict the discretionary expenditure of selffunders to the Personal Expenses Allowance and provides evidence it has done this; and
• identifies anyone else adversely affected by its current practices within the past 12 months, remedies any injustice they have been caused and provides evidence it has done this.

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