Darlington Borough Council (22 010 282)

Statement Upheld Charging 03-Jul-2023

Summary: Ms X complains about an invoice she has received for care for her father Mr Y. We have concluded our investigation having made a finding of fault by the Council. Although Mr Y is liable for the care fees, we found the Council failed in its duty to appropriately inform Ms X about the liability. The Council have made a satisfactory award to Ms X to acknowledge the impact this had on her, and has made service improvements to prevent similar occurrences. We have therefore not made any further recommendations to the Council, and there is no further action to take.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (22 012 380)

Statement Upheld Charging 03-Jul-2023

Summary: Mr X complained about how a care home arranged by the Council pursued him for money he said he did not owe. We ended our investigation as the Council proposed action which will resolve the outstanding issues and no further action by the Ombudsman was needed.

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (22 013 640)

Statement Upheld Charging 02-Jul-2023

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to deal properly with the charges for her mother’s care by failing to offer a deferred payment agreement and failing to take account of the costs arising from owning a flat before it was sold. The Council was at fault for failing to take account of the cost of owning the flat before it was sold. It needs to review the charges for the mother’s care, correct any errors and take action to ensure officers deal properly with this in the future.

London Borough of Redbridge (22 008 435)

Statement Upheld Charging 27-Jun-2023

Summary: There was no fault in the way the Council decided to offer Mr E temporary care at a care home or its attempts to find extra care housing for Mr E. The Council should have informed the family sooner that the care home placement had become permanent but this would not have made a difference to the outcome. There was no fault in the Council’s communications with the family, except that there was no record that the Council told the family what the care home’s rate was during an initial conversation. The Council has agreed to reduce the outstanding debt by the equivalent of two weeks’ contribution.

Kent County Council (22 014 003)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Charging 27-Jun-2023

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council pursuing Mrs B for her late mother’s care fees. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault with actions taken by the Council. It would be reasonable for Mrs B to defend any court action taken against her if she believes she is not responsible for paying the debt.

City of York Council (22 017 655)

Statement Upheld Charging 27-Jun-2023

Summary: The Council’s adult social care charging policy says it charges people for the expected costs of their care, and, if they receive less care than they paid for, it will only review their invoices and refund them once a year. There is no fault in this approach, as the law does not prevent the Council from taking it. However, the Council offered to review Mr B’s invoices more regularly if he wanted, and, although his daughter complained about the infrequent reviews, did not do so. This was fault by the Council. It was also at fault for its handling of Mr B’s daughter’s complaint. It has now agreed to consider offering Mr B more regular reviews of his invoices. It has also agreed to apologise to Mr B’s daughter, and to make a symbolic payment to recognise her injustice.

London Borough of Sutton (22 017 725)

Statement Upheld Charging 27-Jun-2023

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has failed deal properly with the request for a discretionary property disregard for his father’s home, where his sister still lives. The Council has failed to give proper consideration to Mr X’s request. It needs to reconsider his request and address the issues he has raised.

London Borough of Wandsworth (22 014 710)

Statement Upheld Charging 26-Jun-2023

Summary: Mr D complained that the Council repeatedly failed to invoice him for his mother’s homecare. We found fault which caused Mr D significant inconvenience and frustration. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Mr D to remedy this and to agree solutions with the care provider.

Staffordshire County Council (22 015 429)

Statement Upheld Charging 26-Jun-2023

Summary: We have not found fault in the way the Council carried out a financial assessment. There was some fault relating to the delay in carrying out the assessment. The Council has agreed to apologise, offer a repayment plan for the debt and remind officers of good practice.

Wiltshire Council (23 001 156)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Charging 26-Jun-2023

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about matters relating to her father’s care home fees. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.