Summary: The Council was at fault for failing to tell Ms M and her family about the charges for her short-term respite care and failing to carry out a financial assessment. The Council has already apologised and offered to waive the charges. This remedies the injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council charged his mother (Ms M) for respite residential care when it previously told him she would not have to pay for care until the move became permanent. This caused Ms M financial distress as she could not afford to pay for respite care while still paying her rent. Mr X would like the Council to waive the fees. It has also caused Mr X emotional distress. This is their injustice.

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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(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
5. Mr X 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

Relevant legislation

6. We may investigate complaints from the person affected by the complaint issues, or from someone else if they have given their consent. If the person affected cannot give their consent, we may investigate a complaint from a person we decide is a suitable representative. (section 26A or 34C, Local Government Act 1974)

Care Act Assessment

7. Sections 9 and 10 of the Care Act 2014 require councils to carry out an assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support. They must provide an assessment to everyone regardless of their finances or whether the council thinks the person has eligible needs. The assessment must be of the adult’s needs and how they impact on their wellbeing and the results they want to achieve. It must also involve the individual and where suitable their carer or any other person they might want involved.
8. Councils must carry out assessments over a suitable and reasonable timescale considering the urgency of needs and any variation in those needs. Councils should tell people when their assessment will take place and keep them informed throughout the assessment.

Charging for temporary residential care

9. A temporary resident is someone admitted to a care or nursing home where the agreed plan is for it to last for a limited period, such as respite care, or there is doubt a permanent admission is required. The person’s stay should be unlikely to exceed 52 weeks, or in exceptional circumstances, unlikely to substantially exceed 52 weeks. A decision to treat a person as a temporary resident must be agreed with the person and/or their representative and written into their care plan.
10. A council can choose whether to charge a person where it is arranging to meet their needs. In the case of a short-term resident in a care home, the council has discretion to assess and charge as if the person were having their needs met other than by providing accommodation in a care home. Once a council has decided to charge a person, and it has been agreed they are a temporary resident, it must complete the financial assessment in line with the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 and the Care and Support Statutory Guidance.

What happened

11. I have summarised below the key events; this is not intended to be a detailed account.
12. Ms M went into hospital after a fall in early March 2024.
13. The hospital discharged Ms M to her home in late March 2024.
14. Mr X thought his mother was not coping at home. He raised his concerns with a duty social worker.
15. The Council organised Ms M a short-term stay in a care home. Ms M moved into the care home in the middle of April 2024. Mr X said the Council arranged the care quickly and told the family it was free. Ms M was still paying rent for her council house.
16. The Council allocated a social worker to Ms M in early May 2024. The social worker reviewed Ms M’s long term care needs.
17. In the middle of May 2024, the social worker sent Mr X an email with a leaflet attached. On page 10, the leaflet said: ‘There is a standard weekly charge for short stays that vary depending on your age and circumstances…If you are over pension credit age the charge is £142.35 per week.’ This was the first correspondence where the Council mentioned the charges to Mr X.
18. A few days later, the social worker completed a social care assessment. They provided information about finances and discussed long term support. The plan was for Ms M to stay in residential care long term.
19. Ms M completed a financial assessment form in early July 2024.
20. In late August, Mr X emailed the social worker and asked when his mother would start to pay for her care. The social worker said she would start paying at the beginning of September 2024, when she became a permanent resident.
21. The Council wrote to Ms M and said her assessed weekly contribution towards her care was around £330. Ms M paid the weekly contributions.
22. The Council sent Ms M an invoice for around £4,000. This was for the short-term residential care from the middle of April to the end of August at £188 per week.

The complaint

23. Mr X complained to the Council in late November 2024. He said the Council did not tell Ms M about the charges for respite care and they did not expect the £4,000 invoice.
24. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint in January 2025. It partially upheld Mr X’s complaint and apologised. The Council said:
• It had not discussed the standard weekly charge for the short-term care with Ms M or her family before she moved into the care home.
• It sent an email to Mr X with a charging leaflet attached in May 2024. This was the first correspondence to the family about the charges. It agreed to waive the fees from when Ms M moved into the care home in the middle of April until the date of the email.
• It had reduced the weekly fees from £188 (the current fee) to £142.35 (the amount in the leaflet provided) per week. It explained it sent Mr X an old copy of the leaflet and the fees had increased. This reduced the amount outstanding to just under £2,000. The Council offered Ms M a payment plan.
• It accepted a social worker told Mr X the family would start paying for Ms M’s care from September 2024. It explained the social worker was referring to the long-term permanent care, and not the short-term respite care.
• It had reminded staff to provide verbal and written information about charges for care.
25. Mr X was not satisfied with the Councils response and complained to us in March 2025. He said the Council charged his mother for respite care; despite telling the family they would not have to pay unless Ms M became a permanent resident. Mr X said his mother could not afford to pay for her Council flat and respite care and would not have agreed to it had she known. This had caused financial distress to Ms M. When asked what the Council can do “to put things right”, Mr X said the Council should waive the charges.
26. In response to my enquiries, the Council said it had reconsidered Ms M’s situation and decided to waive the charges for Ms M’s short-term respite stay from the middle of April to the end of August 2024. This reduced the balance to zero for Ms M’s short-term respite stay.

Analysis

27. A council can choose whether to charge someone when it is arranging their care needs. Once a council has decided to charge someone, and it has agreed they are a temporary resident in a care home, it must complete a financial assessment. There is no record of the Council completing a financial assessment for Ms M, when it arranged the short-term stay. This was fault.
28. When Ms M agreed to the short-term respite care, Mr X said the social worker told the family it was free. It was on this basis Ms M agreed to the care as she could not afford to pay the fees and her Council flat. I have not seen any record of this conversation, or any conversation or letter about charges before Ms M agreed to the short-term respite care. The Council accepted in its complaint response that it failed to advise the family of the weekly charges and apologised for this. The Council was at fault.
29. The Council completed a financial assessment in July 2024 and told Mr X it would start charging his mother for her care when it became permanent in September 2024. Mr X gave his mother’s flat back to the Council by this time. Mr X had a reasonable expectation the Council paid for his mother’s short term respite care until this time.

Summary of fault causing injustice

30. The Councils failure to tell Ms M and her family about the charges for her short-term respite care is fault which the Council accepted in its complaint response. This caused Ms M financial injustice as she could not afford to pay the charges.
31. The Council accepted it had not told Ms M about the charges until it sent Mr X the email in the middle of May. It agreed to waive the fees until that point. This reduced the injustice.
32. In response to my enquiries, the Council also agreed to waive fees from the middle of May until the end of August. This reduced the amount owed for short-term respite care to zero. There is no remaining financial injustice to Ms M. The Council has already apologised to Mr X and Ms M for any distress it caused in its complaint response. I do not need to make any further recommendations to remedy Ms M’s injustice.
33. The Council has already made service improvements. I do not consider I need to make any further recommendations.

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Action

34. Within four weeks of the final decision, the Council should write to Mr X and tell him it has waived the fees for his mother’s short-term respite care from the middle of April to the end of August 2024 and explain there are no outstanding fees for this period.
35. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

36. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman