Summary: the Council delayed contacting Mrs B about the funds from her late brother’s estate, delayed providing a breakdown and provided incorrect calculations. The remedy the Council has already offered, plus an apology and payment to Mr C is satisfactory remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs B, is represented by Mr C. Mrs B complained the Council:
• cleared her late brother’s bank account without notifying her as next of kin;
• delayed providing her with a breakdown of the amounts the Council had received and the amount spent;
• provided incorrect calculations of the amount due to her; and
• failed to compensate her representative for the costs he incurred.
2. Mrs B says the Council’s actions caused her unnecessary stress.

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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 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)
4. 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

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and Mrs B's comments;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided.
6. Mrs B, Mr C and the organisation 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

Legal and administrative background

7. Section 46 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (the Act) says:
• It shall be the duty of a local authority to cause to be buried or cremated the body of any person who has died or been found dead in their area, in any case where it appears to the authority that no suitable arrangements for the disposal of the body have been or are being made otherwise than by the authority.
8. Subsection 5 of that section says an authority may recover from the estate of the deceased person the expenses incurred.
9. The Council’s estate management procedure, which has now been incorporated into a formal policy, covers how the Council will deal with these cases. It sets out the procedure as follows:
• the Council receives a referral;
• the Council arranges a house search if required;
• during the house search the Council will try to locate anything which might indicate if the deceased has a will, any family members, funeral plan, financial information, cash or a solicitor;
• where family are located the social worker will contact them and ask them to make funeral arrangements;
• when a family member refuses or no one is either willing or able the Council will make arrangements for a burial or cremation under the Act;
• the Council will make written enquiries with any financial institutions it becomes aware of during the property search or through discussions with family members. The Council asks for the money to cover the cost of the funeral to be transferred to the local authority;
• local authorities are not responsible for managing the deceased's estate beyond the right to recoup funeral costs;
• if any money is still held by the local authority after funeral expenses and administration fees have been settled and a next of kin exists, the Council will write to them for identification documents and issue an indemnity form unless the Council holds assets which exceed £5,000 where a different process is required;
• on receipt of the indemnity form and ID the Council will arrange payment.

What happened

10. Mrs B’s brother died in 2021. As the coroner could not identify any next of kin it made a referral to the Council in January 2022 to ask it to arrange a public health funeral. The Council identified the property Mrs B’s brother had lived in and spoke to the landlord. The landlord told the Council he had cleared the property and some items were in storage. The Council also contacted the brother’s GP but he did not have any next of kin details.
11. The Council visited the storage facility and identified some bank statements for Mrs B’s brother. The Council also identified a name of somebody known to Mrs B’s brother. That turned out to be another family member. The Council contacted that family member and with his agreement placed an advertisement in a local newspaper about the funeral it had arranged.
12. The Council wrote to the two banks where Mrs B’s brother had held bank accounts to ask whether there were any funds to pay’s funeral costs.
13. In February 2022 the storage facility gave the Council contact details for Mrs B. The Council contacted Mrs B and confirmed the funeral arrangements. The Council then spoke to Mrs B after the funeral and confirmed she was the next of kin.
14. The Council paid for the funeral in March 2022.
15. The Council received funds from the first bank account held by Mrs B’s brother in June 2022 and funds from the second bank account in July 2022. After deducting funeral costs and an administration fee there remained funds in the estate.
16. In September 2023 Mr C contacted the Council on Mrs B’s behalf as she wanted to find out whether there were any funds left from her brother’s estate.
17. On 20 October 2023 the Council sent Mrs B an indemnity form asking her to sign it to allow the Council to make a payment to her. The amount was listed as £2,233.68. Mr C contacted the Council on Mrs B’s behalf and asked for a breakdown.
18. On 31 October the Council told Mr C it had received a bank payment of £4,602 and deducted the cost of the funeral £2,045.32 and an admin charge of £323. Mr C raised concerns about that breakdown as it did not include the funds from a second account. Mr C asked the Council to pay interest of 8% from the date it had received the money as well as removing the fees.
19. After receiving consent forms from Mrs B for her representative to deal with the Council on her behalf the Council confirmed it had requested physical bank statements to resolve the issue of the outstanding funds. The Council explained the funds from the second bank account had been allocated to a deceased person with the same surname and initial as Mrs B’s brother.
20. Mr C chased the Council 9 November and put in a complaint on 15 November. In response the Council emailed Mr C to tell him it had now received the bank statements. The Council accepted it should have contacted relatives of the deceased to reimburse them with the remaining funds from the estate and said the delay was due to staff shortages. The Council apologised and offered a £100 refund against the administration fee.
21. The Council said it had received a total of £5,275.87 from the two accounts. The Council said after deducting the cost of the funeral and administration fee, and after adding the £100 it had offered, the amount due to the estate was £2,807.55. The Council provided an indemnity form which Mrs B needed to sign so the Council could arrange payment.
22. Mr C contacted the Council to point out the calculation on the indemnity form was incorrect as it had deducted the £100 it had awarded rather than adding it on. The Council issued a form listing the amended amount and suggested Mrs B accept that pending a complaint or legal claim. The amount listed did not include the 8% interest. The Council later issued another indemnity form with the interest added.
23. On 14 December Mr C accepted the terms of the settlement. The Council paid the funds totalling £3,339.57 on 19 December. That amount included interest of £332 and a £100 part refund of the administration fee.
24. The Council says following this complaint it has taken the following action:
• a named officer manages each case and is responsible for each step to ensure consistency and a knowledge of the case;
• in line with normal procedure for other local authorities the Council contacts genealogy companies who will begin to look for relatives;
• changed its client management system which allows staff to move through each stage of the process in a standardised way which means there are fewer opportunities for error and less reliance on out of system processes and triggers;
• is in the process of introducing a formal policy to cover the estate management procedure.

Analysis

25. Mrs B says the Council cleared her brother’s bank accounts without notifying her when it knew she was the next of kin. The Council accepts it knew Mrs B was the next of kin for her brother in March 2022. The evidence also shows the Council had received the contents of both bank accounts held by Mrs B’s brother by July 2022. However, I have seen no evidence the Council contacted Mrs B about the amount it held until October 2023. I am also satisfied the Council only contacted her at that point as Mr C had contacted the Council about outstanding funds. That is a significant delay and is fault.
26. The Council accepts that and has apologised and paid Mrs B 8% interest on top of the balance due from the two accounts after deducting funeral costs and an administration fee, from June 2022. I consider that plus the £100 discretionary payment the Council has paid, a satisfactory remedy for this part of the complaint. I consider it likely the interest payment, in particular, exceeds what Mrs B would have gained in interest had she received the amount in 2022. I also note the Council has amended its procedures to ensure one person deals with each estate management case in future which should ensure the same issues do not occur again. I welcome that.
27. Mrs B says the Council delayed providing a breakdown of the amount it had received from her brother’s accounts and the amount it had spent. I have seen no evidence the Council provided Mrs B with any breakdown until October 2023 when Mr C asked for it. I have made clear the Council was at fault for the delay communicating with Mrs B about the amount outstanding from the estate. I am satisfied though once the Council issued the indemnity form it provided a breakdown relatively promptly, albeit there were then issues with the breakdown, which I will come onto shortly.
28. The Council accepts it provided incorrect calculations of the amount due to Mrs B when writing to her representative. The evidence I have seen satisfies me when the Council initially wrote to explain the amounts it held it failed to include the amount from a second bank account. I am satisfied this was because of an error in the Council allocating that amount to the right case. Failing to identify the person the second account related to accurately is fault as is writing to Mrs B and not including that amount in the calculation.
29. Mrs B says the Council’s explanation that the second account had been incorrectly allocated to a different person with the same surname and initial is not credible. I understand why Mrs B would doubt the Council’s explanation as the name is not a common one. However, the Council has provided evidence to show it was dealing with the estate of somebody with the same surname and initial at the same time. The Council therefore did not give Mrs B wrong information. The Council should though have made further enquiries when it received the payment from the bank account in question to ensure it was allocating it to the right person. Failure to do that is fault.
30. I am also satisfied when the Council wrote to Mrs B a second time to outline the amount to be paid it incorrectly reduced the amount by £100. The Council accepts it should have added an additional £100 to reflect the issues that had arisen in the case. That again is fault. There was also then a delay adding the 8% interest charge the Council had agreed to pay when it sent Mrs B a further indemnity form. Those errors have clearly undermined Mrs B’s confidence in the Council’s handling of this case. It also led to Mr C having to go to further time and trouble to pursue the Council.
31. Mr C says the Council failed to offer him a financial remedy to reflect the costs he incurred pursuing the Council for answers. Mr C says the work he undertook on the case amounted to £650 and the Council has not refunded those costs.
32. As I understand it Mr C holds a professional qualification but is a member of Mrs B’s family. It was, of course, open to Mrs B to ask a family member to help her in her representations with the Council had she wanted to do that. However, I see no reason why Mrs B would have needed to seek professional representation to deal with the Council. I therefore do not recommend the Council make the £650 payment Mr C is seeking.
33. We would, however, normally recommend a financial remedy to reflect the time and trouble somebody has had to go to in pursuing a complaint. In this case I note the Council has paid a financial remedy to Mrs B which includes £100. However, I also note the Council has made that payment to reflect the delay contacting Mrs B between 2022 and 2023. It is therefore clear that payment does not relate to the time and trouble spent pursuing the Council between September 2023 and December 2023.
34. Nor does it provide any financial remedy for the time and trouble Mr C had to go to pursuing the Council. As I am satisfied the majority of those contacts were caused by repeated errors in the Council’s calculations of what was due to Mrs B I consider Mr C has suffered a separate injustice as he had to spend time pursuing the Council and pointing out its errors. To remedy that I recommended the Council apologise to him and pay him £100. The Council has agreed to my recommendation.
35. Mr C has also raised concerns about the Council charging an administration fee. Mr C says the Council should not have done that because there were numerous administrative errors throughout the case. As the Council has explained to Mrs B, it is permitted to recover administration costs under the Act. I therefore cannot criticise the Council for doing that. I am also satisfied the administration fee in this case relates to the work the Council undertook on the case from the point at which it was notified of Mrs B’s brother’s death up to and including the funeral arrangements. I am therefore satisfied none of the charge relates to the cost of communicating with Mrs B and her representative in 2023. Consequently I cannot recommend the Council refund that fee in its entirety.

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Agreed action

36. The Council has already put in place an appropriate remedy for Mrs B and to address the procedural issues that have arisen in this case.
37. Within one month of my decision the Council should:
• apologise to Mr C for the frustration and time and trouble he had to go to pursuing the Council on Mrs B’s behalf: and
• pay Mr C £100.

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Final decision

38. I have completed my investigation and uphold the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman