Summary: Mrs B complained that the Council was being unreasonable in asking her to pay back over £6000 arrears of charges for her daughter’s respite care. She did not realise she had to inform the Council of a change in her daughter’s income because the household income remained at the same level. We have not found fault with the actions of the Council.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complained that Dorset Council (the Council) was unreasonably requesting payment of backdated arrears of her daughter’s (Miss C’s) contribution towards respite care. She says the Council never informed her of the change to the way the contribution is assessed once her daughter finished full-time education. The household does not receive any more money. She says Miss C has not had a social worker for some time and she was not aware that the change was significant. The situation has caused them both significant anxiety and distress. They cannot afford to pay the contribution.

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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 have considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant, made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided. Mrs B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Care and support statutory guidance

5. This guidance which supports the Care Act 2014 says:

A local authority 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.

What happened

6. Miss C has care and support needs and receives direct payments for respite care. She turned 18 in 2016 but continued in full-time education until August 2018. Mrs B received child tax credit for Miss C. From August 2018 Miss C started to receive benefits in her own right as an adult (employment and support allowance [ESA]). Miss C’s income increased but Mrs B’s income decreased as the child tax credit stopped, so the total household income remained the same
7. The Council carried out financial assessments in May 2017 and May 2018 to assess whether Miss C should pay anything towards her respite care as she was now an adult with her own income. As Miss C was only receiving disability benefits, she did not have to pay anything towards her care.
8. The information sent to Mrs B about Miss C’s financial assessment said in bold: “It is your responsibility to tell us if your financial circumstances change in any way.”
9. The Council carried out a care assessment in April 2018 and was aware Miss C was finishing school in the summer of 2018.
10. The Council has provided evidence it carried out a financial assessment in April 2019 and sent a copy to Mrs B, although due to resources it did not request a confirmatory signature from her. This assessment listed Miss C’s only income as disability benefits. It did not mention the ESA.
11. It carried out a further financial assessment in April 2020. During this assessment the Council discovered that Miss C had been receiving ESA since August 2018 and should be paying a contribution of approximately £80 a week towards her care. It notified Mrs B that this contribution was due from 12 April 2020.
12. In September 2020 the Council decided to backdate the charge to the date Miss C started to receive ESA. It calculated that Miss C owed over £6000.
13. Mrs B asked for a review of the decision to backdate the charge. She said the household income had remained the same, so she did not know she had to notify the Council of the ESA. She said she could not afford to pay the contribution or the arrears. She also said Miss C had not had a social worker since May 2018 so there had been no-one to ask. The Council replied in October 2020. It explained how the charge arose, why it had been backdated to 2018 and confirmed it remained payable.
14. Mrs B complained further and provided information about the contributions Miss C made to the rent and council tax. The Council replied on 25 November 2020. It said it had allowed the payments for rent and council tax as part of Miss C’s expenditure and backdated them to August 2018. This reduced the arrears to less than £4,000.
15. Mrs B complained to us. She has been paying £10 a month towards the debt but the arrears in July 2021 were over £6,600.

Analysis

16. The statutory guidance requires councils to carry out regular financial assessments and suggests this is likely to be on an annual basis. The Council also expects servicer-users to inform it of any changes to their finances and states this on its financial assessment documents.
17. I have not found fault with the actions of the Council in this matter as it carried out financial assessments every year since 2017 and notified Mrs B of the outcomes. The documents listed Miss C’s income as disability benefits only and did not include the ESA which had started in August 2018 when Miss C turned 18.
18. The Council notified Mrs B of her duty to inform the Council of any change in Miss C’s financial circumstances. I understand that the household income did not change and so she did not see the need to inform the Council, but the change to Miss C’s income was significant, and Mrs B should have checked with the Council to see if it affected the financial assessment.
19. I understand this will create a difficult situation for Mrs B and would ask the Council to discuss an affordable repayment plan with Mrs B. She says Miss C can only afford to pay £10 per month.

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Final decision

20. I have completed my investigation into this complaint as I am unable to find fault causing injustice in the actions of the Council towards Mrs B or Miss C.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman