Summary: We have upheld this complaint about the Council’s handling of a financial assessment for Ms X. The Council has agreed appropriate action to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to tell her she would need to pay £80 per week towards the cost of her care and delayed billing her for two years, by which point there were arrears of around £5,000. Ms X says this unexpected invoice, which she says she cannot afford to pay, caused her significant worry and stress.
2. She also says staff were not supportive and did not make reasonable adjustments to how their operated to meet her disability needs, which added to the stress caused.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

What happened

6. The Council arranged care and support at home for Ms X, who has disabilities, from early September 2022. It sent Ms X an Agreement to Pay form in July 2022, which provided some general information about charging for care. This explained she may have to contribute towards the cost of the care.
7. The Council did not send Ms X a form to provide information and evidence so it could complete a financial assessment to assess the contribution Ms X would need to pay until late October 2023. Despite reminders, Ms X did not return the form until late January 2024.
8. The Council completed the financial assessment the same day it received the form and wrote to Ms X setting out the amounts she needed to contribute towards the cost of her care. Shortly afterwards, it issued an invoice for the outstanding contributions from July 2022, which totalled £5,690.
9. Ms X contacted the Council because she said she had not been advised she needed to pay towards her care. In March, there were discussions about adjusting the assessed contribution to reflect Ms X’s housing related costs (HRE) and her disability related costs (DRE). Records show Ms X was having difficulty understanding what information and evidence the Council needed. There was a conversation with a family member about this and Ms X sought support from a local advice centre. There was a delay in Ms X getting an appointment for support from the advice centre until early August, during which period the Council continued to send reminders about the outstanding invoice, but it stopped sending these in early August 2024. Ms X also had a difficulty providing the receipts the Council wanted to evidence her DRE and she made a formal complaint in late August 2024.
10. In early December 2024, the Council made a home visit during which it carried out a financial re-assessment, taking into account Ms X’s HRE and DRE. The Council wrote to Ms X with revised figures for her assessed contributions in late January 2025.
11. In its response to our enquiries, the Council explained the steps it has taken to address past delays in carrying out financial assessments.

My assessment

12. The Council provided general information about charging for care in late July 2022, so I am satisfied Ms X was aware she may need to contribute to the costs of her care when it was arranged. However, she would not know how much she needed to pay until the financial assessment was completed.
13. If we investigated further, it is likely we would find fault with the Council for a delay in starting the financial assessment process between September 2022 and October 2023. This led to her receiving a large and unexpected invoice in February 2024, which caused her stress and worry.
14. It is also likely we would find fault with the Council for not providing sufficient support to Ms X to help her engage with the financial assessment process, despite her explaining she found the process difficult due to her disabilities, between March and early December 2024. It is likely that, if the Council had carried out a home visit earlier, the matter could have been resolved earlier. The lack of support added to the stress and worry caused.
15. We therefore asked the Council to take specific steps to remedy the injustice caused and the Council has agreed to take the following action within one month of the date of this decision:
• apologise to Ms X in line with our guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice;
• pay her £500 to remedy the injustice caused. For the avoidance of doubt, this payment cannot be offset against the outstanding contributions;
• if it has not already done so, send her a revised invoice to reflect the reduced assessed contributions for the period July 2022 to February 2024; and
• contact her to offer her an affordable repayment plan for the outstanding contributions.
16. The Council has taken appropriate action to address past delays, so no further action is needed at present to improve its services.
17. For completeness, Ms X has received a package of care at home and the Council was entitled to ask her to pay a contribution towards the cost of that package. In such circumstances, we would not recommend a reduction in the costs but would usually recommend a symbolic payment to remedy the injustice caused.

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Final decision

18. We have upheld this complaint about the Council’s handling of a financial assessment. The Council has agreed to take appropriate action to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman