Summary: Mrs T complains the Council charged her mother Mrs X for care at home for five days a week when she only received four days care. She also complained the Council failed to respond to her attempts to contact it. We consider the Council was at fault and it has already remedied the injustice it caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs T complains on behalf of her mother Mrs X, that the Council arranged home care for five days, but she only required four days. She says the Council should not charge Mrs X for this, and failed to respond when she contacted it. She also said the Council did not provide care for Mrs X for two weeks when she was on holiday.

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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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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 discussed the complaint with Mrs T and considered the information she provided. I have made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents it provided. Mrs T and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and guidance

5. A council has a duty to arrange care and support for those with eligible needs, and a power to meet both eligible and non-eligible needs in places other than care homes. A council can choose to charge for non-residential care following a person’s needs assessment. Where it decides to charge, the council must follow the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 and have regard to the Care Act statutory guidance. (Care Act 2014, section 14 and 17)
6. Where a council has decided to charge for care, it must carry out a financial assessment to decide what a person can afford to pay. It must then give the person a written record of the completed assessment. Councils have no power to assess couples according to their joint financial resources. A council must treat each person individually. A council must not charge more than the cost it incurs to meet a person’s assessed eligible needs.

What happened

7. In early 2024 Mrs X was discharged from hospital. Mrs T says the hospital arranged care for her mother and gave her a contact number for a home Care Provider. Mrs T contacted the Council’s adult social care team about support at home for Mrs X.
8. In February 2024 the Council assessed Mrs X’s needs and noted she needed support with managing her personal hygiene and being appropriately clothed.
9. The care assessment noted Mrs X lived half the week with one daughter and half the week with the other daughter. The assessor also said that they recommended a “once a day package of care in the community, five days a week as on Saturday and Sunday [Mrs X] travels to her other daughters and she is able to supply this care at the weekend.”
10. The Council recommended a 30-minute lunch care call Monday to Friday. The care assessment stated in the Personal Budget section that this would be £58.35 per week. The Council’s assessment shows the assessor advised Mrs X and her daughters about social care funding and the financial assessment. This would determine how much Mrs X needed to contribute towards the costs of her care.
11. The Council’s care package started in mid-February. The Council wrote to Mrs X on 16 February and confirmed her estimated personal budget was £58.35 per week for the cost of 30 minutes care five times week. It said a financial assessment would establish the actual amounts she may need to contribute. The Council explained how to cancel services and provided telephone and email address contact information. It said “if we do not receive notification that you wish to cancel services, then you will continue to be charged.”
12. Mrs T completed the Council’s financial assessment for Mrs X in February.
13. On 26 March Mrs T received the Council’s letter confirming that it assessed Mrs X’s contribution for her care was £58.35 per week for five care visits a week. Mrs T says she tried to call the Council as Mrs X only needed four visits a week, but she could not get through.
14. On 8 April Mrs T tried to call the Council again and left a message. On 12 April Mrs T spoke to an officer who advised her to call the adult social care department. Mrs T could not get through and so she sent an email asking for someone to call her back.
15. On 15 April Mrs T received the Council’s first invoice for Mrs X’s care contributions. Mrs T emailed the Council to say that she had tried to call on numerous occasions. She raised an online complaint.
16. An officer emailed Mrs T on 17 April in response to her email of 12 April. She apologised that Mrs T had been unable to get through on the phone. She asked for further information about her query.
17. On 18 April 2024 Mrs T emailed the Council to say she wanted to check the agreed days of care. She said five days was mentioned but they only had the carer four days a week. She wanted to check the Council’s charges were correct.
18. The Council officer replied that she would refer the case to the area team to allocate a social worker.
19. On 19 April 2024 Mrs T emailed the Council to say that she was going on holiday in three days. She asked if the care service could be transferred to Mrs X’s other daughter for two weeks. The Council’s social worker called Mrs T back, but she could not take the call.
20. Mrs T says that Mrs X stayed at her other daughter for two weeks, but she had no care service as requested.
21. On 7 May 2024 the Council received Mrs T’s complaint. She said the Council service was a shambles. She had tried to make contact for a month to ask for care to transfer to her sisters. As a result, Mrs X had no care for two weeks. She said she would not pay the Council care invoice until she had a point of contact and could discuss the issue.
22. The Council called Mrs T and said it would email her to confirm the change to four days. However, Mrs T did not receive an email.
23. On 10 June 2024 the Council replied at stage one of its complaints procedure. The Council said:
• it apologised that Mrs T had not been able to contact it by telephone. It provided contact information and said it was not clear why she had difficulty.
• It was not aware of Mrs T’s request to transfer care for Mrs X until 19 April. It explained it could change care if adult social care had reasonable notice. It said it had called Mrs T back but did not have evidence of a further follow up call. Therefore, it agreed if it had spoken to her, she would have advised it of her holiday. It agreed it would not charge Mrs X for the care for the two week period.
• although Mrs T turned carers away each week on Mondays, she had only advised the Council about this on 18 April. Therefore, it would not remove the charges for five visits a week until 18 April.
24. Mrs T complained further that the Council had advised her following the assessment that it was easier to reduce from five to four days than to increase. However, Mrs X had only ever received four days care. She said that she had not turned carers away but had advised them the week before that they would not need to attend. And they had not advised her to contact the Council. She explained when she had tried to contact the Council starting from 26 March. She said she had emailed the Council on 12 April.
25. The Council replied the Care Provider did not tell the Council that Mrs T only asked for care for four days until 18 April. The Care Provider confirmed carers attended for five days. Therefore, it could not waive the charges. The Council said it had apologised for the difficulty Mrs T experienced trying to call the Council.
26. Mrs T responded that the Care Provider’s statement regarding carers attending was not true, and this led her to mistrust the Care Provider.
27. In July Mrs T asked why the Council had not credited the two weeks charges that it said it would credit to the account.
28. In August the Council apologised for the delay and said this would be corrected in September.
29. In September Mrs X’s account shows that £249 was credited to it. It appears that this is an error as it represents a credit of five weeks rather than two weeks. The Council has agreed that it will not seek to recover the additional credit.

Analysis

30. The Council has accepted that there was fault on its part because Mrs T had difficulty getting through to it on the telephone. I can see Mrs T tried to call several times between 26 March and 12 April, when she emailed the Council. It has apologised for this. I consider this is an appropriate remedy.
31. Mrs T is seeking a refund of charges for one day per week as she said that Mrs X did not need this care. However, I would have expected Mrs T to email the Council at an earlier point in accordance with the information the Council sent her on 16 February. I do not find fault by the Council here.
32. The Council agreed that it would not charge Mrs X for two weeks care in April and May 2024. There was delay by the Council in applying the credit. This was fault. The Council has apologised for the delay. I do not consider this caused Mrs T significant injustice and so I have not proposed a further remedy.
33. The Council has advised that Mrs X’s account had received an extra credit in error which it will not recover. Therefore, even if I considered there was fault by the Council which caused Mrs T or Mrs X injustice, I would not recommend a further remedy.

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Final decision

34. There was fault by the Council causing injustice which it has remedied. I have completed my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman